The Oxfordshire Council Cabinet met to discuss and approve the submission of the council's proposal for local government reorganisation to the government, deciding to endorse the One Oxfordshire plan with some revisions. This plan suggests replacing the current two-tier system with a single county unitary authority.

Here's a breakdown of the key topics discussed:

Local Government Reorganisation

The main item on the agenda was the proposal for local government reorganisation (LGR) in Oxfordshire, specifically the One Oxfordshire proposal for a single unitary authority. The Cabinet was asked to endorse its submission to the government, following a statutory invitation received in February 2025.

The Cabinet approved the recommendations with some changes to the submission, including:

• Adding more detail on neighbourhood committees.
• Changing the proposed council size to 99 councillors.
• Clarifying stakeholder feedback to indicate where views were held by some, but not all, respondents.
• Adding the bespoke CIPFA¹ resilience index risk assessment in the options appraisal.
• Removing Annex 2 (Metro Dynamics work for MSA) from the submission.
• Adding a paragraph on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) once the outcome of the inspection visit is known.

The original proposal included three options for LGR:

• One Oxfordshire: A single unitary authority for the entire county, replacing the existing two-tier system.
• Two Unitary Authorities: Creating an Oxford and Shires council (Cherwell, Oxford City, and West Oxfordshire) and a Ridgeway council (South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Berkshire).
• Three Unitary Authorities: Establishing a Greater Oxford council (Oxford City with expanded boundaries), a Northern Oxfordshire council (West Oxfordshire and most of Cherwell), and a Ridgeway council (most of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse with West Berkshire).

The report noted that the government wants to see local government transitioning to unitary councils and working in combination to form Strategic Authorities at the sub-regional level. The guidance sets out six key principles, including establishing single-tier local government, creating unitary local government at the right size, prioritising the delivery of high-quality public services, showing how councils have sought to work together, supporting devolution arrangements, and enabling stronger community engagement.

The report also noted that Oxfordshire County Council had already committed £10m from earmarked reserves for local government reorganisation and devolution.

Councillor Ian Middleton addressed the Cabinet regarding the submission of the proposal to government.

Reports from Scrutiny Committees

The Cabinet received a report from the Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Local Government Re-organisation and approved the response to the recommendations.