Oxfordshire to be broken into three councils

Mon 20 Jul, 15:51 (last edited on Mon 20 Jul, 15:56)

I'd put money on all three predictions. Disaggregating services will prove to be very complicated and we will lose economies of scale.  I see Steve Reed, who took this decision, has quit his job.  So the buck moves on.

Mon 20 Jul, 14:50

I suspect that whatever happens

• The cost of implementation will be greater than estimated
• The savings as a result will be less than estimated
• Council Tax will go up

Mon 20 Jul, 11:36

Any arrangement that will STOP the wastage of our money on the vandalism of Witney Town Centre would be most welcome. 

Sun 19 Jul, 14:37 (last edited on Sun 19 Jul, 14:40)

I'm not in a position to decide between the competing narratives, Liz; but I'm fairly sure that Andy Burnham will be receiving some quite conflicting correspondence about these matters. And at a time when he has a lot of much more important issues that he needs to address.

I suspect that the different narratives arise because of the lack of clarity in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, and the various subsequent "explainers" and FAQs about Foundation Strategic Authorities and Mayoral Strategic Authorities. See, for example, the very recent glossary and page here  and on the linked pages which are by no means easy to understand.

Unfortunately, I think this will mean that in the end it will be the Government that makes the decision about the boundaries and the mayoral status of our region, rather than local councils which was put forward as the ideal route to devolution.

Sun 19 Jul, 09:01

Christine, The Lib Dems objected to a) being told by central government what the regional boundaries should be (we thought devolution meant seceding decisions to local communities, not the other way round) when Oxfordshire and Berkshire have no public services in common with Swindon (different police, ambulance, NHS footprint) and b) a Foundational Strategic Authority would have cost the region £1million a year to run, and we were only being offered £250,000 by the government.  Not a good deal in any way.  We are holding out for a Mayoral Strategic Authority which would bring the benefits that you list plus more, and we hope Andy Burnham will be more amenable to this idea.

Sun 19 Jul, 00:39

It would be better if a new "Cotswold Unitary Authority" is formed comprising the West Ox DC & Cotswold DC areas plus the upland parts of N Wilts, S Warks & SE Worcs. 

Sat 18 Jul, 10:31 (last edited on Sat 18 Jul, 10:32)

Gabi, I'm also not a fan of the new arrangements. But there will be only one unitary Council office for us in North Oxfordshire. I believe that's already a Government decision, although I believe some have already asked for a Government re-think.

What's yet to be decided is the Foundational Strategic Authority (FSA) for our region. Perhaps that's what you mean by the term "super council" which is not a term that I recognise. This is, as things stand, not something the Government decides, but is up to the relevant existing councils (OCC, WODC, Cherwell etc) and new unitary councils to decide amongst themselves. 

A  Foundational Strategic Authority (FSA) decides on strategy, e.g. local transport planning, housing, economic development, public safety and overseeing the structures of policing. They are designed to act as a stepping stone toward full mayoral devolution which would take on all these powers, including policing. FSAs are not based on county boundaries, so might include other large cities in the Thames Valley region, e.g. Reading or -- perhaps more relevant for us in the north of the region -- Milton Keynes. 

Deciding the boundaries of FSAs was not supposed to be a Government decision, but is something that the different councils and unitary authorities are supposed to agree amongst themselves. As I understand things, we were well on the way to deciding the boundaries of the FSA, but the LibDems have objected to the plan to include Swindon within the proposed FSA, and have in effect blocked the plan which was simply waiting to be signed off. 

Fri 17 Jul, 20:16

Soo hold the phone……so Gloucestershire is shrinking its council offices to 1 super council ….. doing away with places like Forest of Dean, Stroud, Tewkesbury, Cheltenham.

 While we in Oxfordshire make all our little 1’s to technically 3 super council offices. North, south & central.

The decision is not yet confirmed which means the government hasn’t decided how it’s going yet. 1 office, 2 offices or 3 offices.

To be paying council tax to 3 separate unities is ludicrous, but merely paying 1 council tax to the whole of Oxfordshire…….. so yes a higher rate for every1 but to bring places like Berkshire into Oxfordshire what does that mean ……that Berkshire will no longer exist…… I don’t get it.

Fri 17 Jul, 19:43

Mr Burnham will have a say...........read his book(2004)  "Head North" out of print at the moment.

Fri 17 Jul, 17:41

It could have been a lot worse, Oxford and the Shires......

Fri 17 Jul, 08:36 (last edited on Fri 17 Jul, 08:38)

The decision is about as bad as it could be, especially for West Oxfordshire.  A unitary authority of just 265,000 people is too small to be viable, as we have seen with the Berkshire authorities, although it will be slightly larger that they are.

Thu 16 Jul, 21:32

As a (long) exiled Rutlander I’m heartbroken...

Genuinely cross, though, about the Oxfordshire announcement, which will see us run from Banbury - a town with which we have nothing in common. It’ll be a comparative minnow of a council (which means fewer services, higher council tax) and one with an unstable political situation. 

Thu 16 Jul, 17:57

Farewell, Rutland (again).

Thu 16 Jul, 14:38

Yep, Warkwickshire too. 

Thu 16 Jul, 13:26

Counties to be split into three new unitary councils https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxdx54w7w5o

So we’ll have three highways departments, three social services, three schools admission processes ….