Council Welcomes Blueprint For Future Local Government

OXFORDSHIRE County Council has welcomed the government?s blueprint for the future of local government, and today issued the following statement:
“Oxfordshire County Council has welcomed a government blueprint setting out the future of local government in England that calls for councils to work ever more closely with the communities they represent.
“Councillor Keith Mitchell, the leader of the council, said: ?This White Paper appears to be making the right noises about local decisions being better than national decisions. It certainly seems to be a step in the right direction.
“If it means we can get on with the job of delivering better quality services to the people of Oxfordshire through working more closely with our district council colleagues that?s got to be good. We must all engage more because local services need to orbit around local communities rather than the other way around.
“Our aim has long been to work better with our five district councils and find imaginative ways of doing that. Value for money, efficiency and high quality services must be the aim of everyone. Complacency is not an option.”

“The White Paper also proposes more mayors, and powers for councils to bring in bylaws without government permission, but it does not call for widespread changes to local government structures across England and Wales.
“Instead it says councils ‘may seek’ to restructure local government in shire counties if that is the best option. Oxford is one of four historic cities ? the others are Norwich, Ipswich and Exeter – that have expressed a wish to achieve unitary council status in preference to the current two-tier structure.