Empowering People, Growing Prosperity, Building Communities
Last year, the government asked councils across England to put forward proposals to simplify local government structures in their regions.
Our proposal would abolish Oxfordshire’s six existing councils, along with West Berkshire Council, and replace them with three new unitary councils:
- Greater Oxford Council – covering Oxford and its Green Belt
- Northern Oxfordshire Council – covering most of the existing Cherwell and West Oxfordshire districts
- Ridgeway Council – covering most of the existing South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts combined with West Berkshire Unitary Council
Each of the new unitary councils would be responsible for all council services in their area.
Our proposal would:
- Enable 40,000 homes – including 16,000 social and affordable homes – to be built within Greater Oxford by 2040
- Create 218,000 jobs and generate £168.8bn for the UK economy by 2050
- Provide separate councils for Greater Oxford and Northern Oxfordshire, better protecting local identities and enabling councils to tailor services to the different needs of urban and rural areas
- Give Greater Oxford, Northern Oxfordshire and Ridgeway separate seats on the Strategic Authority, which will coordinate strategic issues – such as housing, transport and economic growth – across the Thames Valley
Find out more by following the links below.
