Well, well, well – that’s gonna make for some interesting conversations. What am I on about?
Yesterday (Thursday July 16) the UK gov announced that Oxfordshire and West Berkshire’s seven existing councils will be replaced by three unitary councils on 1 April 2028. So, we say ‘so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen and goodbye’ to Oxfordshire County Council and hello to the three new councils:
- Greater Oxford Council – covering Oxford and its immediate surroundings
- 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
I know not everyone is thrilled but I think putting Oxford at the centre of its own universe instead of turning everything in the county into an ‘also ran, Oxford satellite’ makes sense. I’m sure there were reasons the Ridgeway council took shape the way it did but I don’t know enough about the logistics of that area where Oxfordshre and West Berkshire touch to say.
But I definitely have thoughts about Northern Oxfordshire Council and think it presents some great opportunities for planning and management suitable for the area. What do I mean? Just that trying to treat all of Oxfordshire like a homogeneous economic, social and cultural entity was always going to mean huge swathes of the area was being mismanaged. The new structure, IMO, means things are a bit more like for like administratively – and that makes planning and management easier.
Anyway – much more thoughts on this to come, especially for what it means for the visitor economy (because some of the big ticket destinations ended up in falling under the Northern Oxfordshire Council).