Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Leader

Forward Plan Ref: 2025/047

Contact: Helen Mitchell, Head of Public Affairs and Strategy

Helen.mitchell@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Report of the Chief Executive Officer

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:

1.    Note the receipt of the statutory invitation received from the Minister of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government on 5 February 2025;

2.    Agree to submit to Government the interim plan as set out in Appendix 1 and each option for local government reorganisation set out in Appendix 2 to 4;

3.    Agree that Oxfordshire County Council proposes and supports as its optimal model for re-organisation – a single county unitary for Oxfordshire as set out as option 1 in Appendix 2.   

4.    Agree that as the constituent member of any future Mayoral County Combined Authority, the Cabinet’s preferred geography for a Mayoral Strategic Authority is Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

5.    Endorse the Leader of the Council to correspond with Government, setting out the County Council’s position with respect to local government reorganisation and devolution, and to hold meetings with Ministers on such matters in due course.