County Council told ‘to get on board’ with the study on Unitary options

AS District Councils in the area jointly begin to commission a study into the future of local government, Councillor Matthew Barber, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, has called on Oxfordshire County Council to: “…co-operate with the work being undertaken and not to waste the public’s money duplicating the study.”

Cllr Matthew Barber

The District Councils are currently selecting a leading company of experts to look at all the options for change, including creating four unitary councils representing people from the Cotswolds to South Northants, including Oxford City. Seven different councils have come together to commission the study jointly. They are South Oxfordshire DC, Cherwell DC, Vale of the White Horse, Oxford City Council and West Oxfordshire District Council.

In a statement today, Councillor Barber, who said he was speaking on behalf of all the District Councils, said: “Everyone knows that the County Council is having extreme budget difficulties, leading to cuts in services that people value. Two tier local government is broken in our view and we want to look at all the options for unitary councils.”

The study will look at the likely impact of four different alternatives – four, three, two or a single Oxfordshire unitary council covering Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and South Northants.  The proposed unitary authorities are:

Southern Oxfordshire Unitary Authority, replacing Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire District Councils
Oxford City Unitary Authority, replacing Oxford City Council
West Oxfordshire (Cotswold) Unitary Authority, replacing West Oxfordshire District Council and Cotswold District Council
Cherwell (South Northants) Unitary Authority, replacing Cherwell District Council and South Northamptonshire Council

which, it is proposed, would work in partnership with the NHS and Local Enterprise Group. (See previous news story)

Councillor Barber added: “We have included the options that the County Council have publically stated they want to look at. It’s time for them to co-operate with the work being undertaken on the future of local government. The public will not forgive them if they duplicate the work at this late stage.

“The train is moving out of the station and it’s time to stop shouting from the side-lines and get on board,” he added.

Oxfordshire County Council would prefer one, large unitary authority claiming it would be more efficient and less costly.  It has published its own ‘Vision for Oxfordshire‘ It has been reported elsewhere (BBC News) that Oxfordshire County Council leader, Ian Hudspeth, has said: “Once again the districts are putting headlines ahead of joint working.

“We have written to the districts twice asking them to discuss terms of reference for a joint study, with the public also given a chance to comment.

“They made it clear they weren’t prepared to do that.”

The Government will make the final decision about any devolution plan after public consultation.

South Oxfordshire District Council, which includes elected councillors for Thame, and Vale of White Horse DC, already share some back-office services to save money.