For 52 years Oxfordshire County Council has brazenly promoted itself as some kind of institutional embodiment of Oxfordshire itself. This despite the council’s area including over 250 square miles of north-west Berkshire – including the Berkshire Downs, the Vale of the White Horse and the county town of Abingdon. On 1st April 2028, Oxfordshire County Council, along with the district councils in its area, will be abolished and replaced with a new unitary local government set-up. The Government must now bring an end to over five decades of Oxfordshire fakery. But, will it?
The Government has recently launched a consultation on the Proposals for local government reorganisation in Oxfordshire. The consultation presents three possible scenarios for the new unitary councils. One of these would see the current Oxfordshire County Council become the basis of a new unitary council. The other two would see it disappear altogether.
The Association of British Counties (ABC) advocates a system of local government terminology and council naming that draws a clear distinction between the historic counties and local government. We do not oppose historic county names being used by councils, but only if that provides the best description of the location and area of that council. The continued unqualified use of “Oxfordshire” for a council with an area which includes a huge part of Berkshire would be outrageous.
Here we look at each of the consultation‘s three unitary local government scenarios and discuss the appropriateness of the proposed council names. One major plus is that the new councils will sensibly be known just as “councils” and not as “county councils”.
Option 1 is for the current Oxfordshire County Council area to become the basis for a new unitary council, to be called ‘Oxfordshire Council‘. The existing West Berkshire unitary council would be unaffected by this option. A unitary council based on the current Oxfordshire County Council area is not a problem to ABC, so long as it is named ‘Oxfordshire and North Berkshire Council‘.
Option 2 proposes that:
- the current district councils of Cherwell, Oxford City and West Oxfordshire form a new unitary council to be known as ‘Oxford and Shires Council‘. This council area would fall almost entirely in Oxfordshire. ABC has no issue with the name other than bemusement as to what ‘and Shires‘ is meant to refer to. ‘Northern Oxfordshire Council‘ (as used in option 3) would be less confusing.
- the current district councils of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse are joined with the existing unitary council of West Berkshire to form a new unitary council to be known as ‘Ridgeway Council‘. This council area lies partly in Berkshire and partly in Oxfordshire, so the use of a non-county name is sensible, especially one referring to a famous and ancient feature of the area.
Option 3 proposes
- the current Oxford City council forms the basis of a ‘Greater Oxford Council‘ area with the addition of parishes from the current Cherwell, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils. This area would lie partly in Oxfordshire and partly in Berkshire. Many probably won’t like the contrived ‘Greater‘ name, but at least this name does not misrepresent the historic counties of its area.
- the current district council of West Oxfordshire and most of the current district council of Cherwell to form a new unitary council area to be known as ‘Northern Oxfordshire Council‘. Since this council area would fall almost entirely within Oxfordshire, ABC has no issue with the proposed name.
- most of the areas of the current district councils of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse are to join with the existing unitary council of West Berkshire to form a new unitary council to be known as ‘Ridgeway Council‘. This is close in area to the Ridgeway Council proposed in Option 2. ABC has no issue with this proposed name.
Once the Government has decided on the new unitary local government set-up, it will implement this through a Statutory Instrument. A Shadow authority / shadow authorities will be elected in May 2027. Ultimately each new council will be able to amend its name from that given in the enabling Statutory Instrument.
The consultation makes no mention at all of what, if any, effect the local government changes will have on the “Oxfordshire” lieutenancy – currently the same as the Oxfordshire County Council area. ABC is proposing that the lieutenancies throughout the UK be re-appointed to the historic counties.
The consultation concludes on 26th March 2026. Make sure you have your say.
