Government plans to dismantle Oxfordshire’s existing local government structure are progressing to a subsequent phase, officials have indicated.
On July 16, which marked the final parliamentary session prior to the summer break, the former Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Steve Reed, formally announced restructuring proposals for the county’s governing bodies.
The administration chose the proposal put forward by the Labour-controlled city council, which outlined dividing the county and West Berkshire into three separate unitary authorities.
The new entities, to be named Greater Oxford, North Oxfordshire and Ridgeway councils, will assume all responsibilities currently distributed between the existing two-tier arrangement of county and district authorities.
The initiative has attracted varied responses, with county leader Tim Bearder of the Liberal Democrats demanding the proposal be withdrawn and calling upon Prime Minister Andy Burnham to overturn the decision made during Sir Keir Starmer’s tenure.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government affirmed that the restructuring would proceed as planned.
The department has now confirmed that a joint submission was received by the Monday, August 17 deadline from Oxfordshire and West Berkshire councils, and it is currently reviewing the information supplied as part of the subsequent phase of work to deliver local government reorganisation in the region.
A communication distributed to the chief executives of both councils had outlined requirements for supplementary details from the authorities to facilitate timely elections, along with £900,000 in funding for establishing the replacement bodies and subsequent stages of the process.
The forthcoming measure will be a structural changes order, which will legally constitute the replacement authorities and formally dissolve the present governing bodies.
The existing councils will continue operating until April 1, 2028, though shadow authorities for the new entities are scheduled to be established in April 2027, following electoral proceedings.
These transitional bodies will assume responsibility for preparing and executing the duties of the incoming unitary councils until those organisations officially commence operations.
A preliminary draft of the order dissolving the current authorities is anticipated to be circulated in September, and it will assign official designations to the new councils, though these designations may be amended subsequently.
The order requires parliamentary approval, a development expected to occur and take effect in 2027.
The correspondence, authored by Beatrice Andrews, deputy director for local government reorganisation at the Ministry, addressed to the chief executives, stated that the order would ensure participation of all existing councils so that implementation becomes a collaborative effort, while designating a primary role for those with insight into the proposal being executed and overseeing the key services being separated and combined.