Devolution

  • Alternative Devolution Proposals Published

    27 June 2017

    Oxford City, Cherwell and West Oxfordshire Districts have combined to draw up alternative proposals for the future structure of local government in Oxfordshire. They oppose the single unitary organisation favoured by the County, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District. Instead, the counter-proposals put a case for a Combined Authority, with the four districts,…

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  • County decides to submit Better Oxfordshire proposal

    16 March 2017

    On 14 March 2017, 11 days after ‘Better Oxfordshire’ was published, Oxfordshire CC’s Cabinet met to decide whether to submit their proposal to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. This despite the opposition of the City Council and two District Councils – Cherwell and West Oxfordshire. Members of the public are allowed…

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  • Better Oxfordshire? Not really.

    12 March 2017

    Three days after consultation on ‘One Oxfordshire’ closed the County published ‘Better Oxfordshire‘, a 148-page revised proposal for a unitary council. Despite giving some extra details the new version does not address most of the points we raised, and is certainly not ready for submission to the Secretary of State. This is the text of…

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  • One Oxfordshire – OCS response

    1 March 2017

    This is a summary of our comments on Oxfordshire County Council’s “One Oxfordshire” proposals for a single unitary authority to run all local services in the county. You can read our full submission here. These comments should be read together with our “Gap Analysis”. The competing consultants’ reports commissioned by the County and the City/Districts…

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  • Restructuring – a Gap Analysis

    27 February 2017

    In our previous post about the competing proposals for restructuring local government in Oxfordshire we explained we were preparing a Gap Analysis. The aim is to complement the financial focus of the earlier consultants’ studies with an analysis of how well the proposals contribute to better and more effective governance and democratic processes. We have…

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  • Devolution and Restructuring in Oxfordshire

    30 January 2017

    We understand that the five Oxfordshire District Councils and the County Council are jointly preparing a proposal which justifies the devolution of powers from central government, leading to access to significant development funding. The proposal includes the establishment of a combined authority led by an elected Mayor. We believe that it resembles the successful devolution…

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