New Cabinet Leader for district council

AFTER the recent death of its leader, Ann Ducker, South Oxfordshire District Council has a new leader.  Cllr John Cotton is the new leader of South Oxfordshire District Council following a vote at the full council meeting on yesterday, October 16.

District Cllr John Cotton, the new Leader of the SODC Cabinet

Ann Ducker, who served as leader of the council for 11 years,  passed away in September after a short illness.

Cllr Cotton has served on the council since 1999 and during that time has served on the Cabinet as the representative for Planning, IT and for Didcot. He was chosen by the ruling Conservative group as their candidate for the leadership on Tuesday, October 14.

He is  the councillor for the Sandford ward, which includes Sandford on Thames, Clifton Hampden, Culham and Nuneham Courtenay. 

Cllr Cotton said: “I am excited by the job ahead – it’s a real privilege to have been given this opportunity. Filling Ann’s shoes will be difficult, but I will give it my best and I hope – come May next year – that my colleagues in the new cabinet and I will have given everybody in the district cause to say a job well done.”

In recent years, the interests of Didcot were represented on the cabinet by Cllr Ducker, a position that Cllr Cotton also once held. Cllr Cotton has now introduced a cabinet representative for all of the market towns, as well as for parishes within the district.

The new Cabinet Committee for South Oxfordshire District Council is:

Cllr John Cotton – Leader of the Council and cabinet member for Corporate Strategy, Economic Development and Wallingford
Cllr Angie Paterson – Deputy Leader of the Council and cabinet member for Planning Policy and Customer Services
Cllr Anna Badcock – cabinet member for Housing
Cllr David Dodds – cabinet member for Waste and Thame
Cllr Will Hall – cabinet member for Finance and Henley
Cllr Elizabeth Gillespie – cabinet member for Development Control, Building Control, Grants and Northern Parishes
Cllr Bill Service – cabinet member for Leisure and Didcot
Cllr Lynn Lloyd – IT, HR, Legal and Democratic Services
Cllr Judith Nimmo-Smith – Health, Community Safety and Central Parishes
Cllr Robert Simister – Property, Technical Services and Southern Parishes.