The government is again minded to split Oxfordshire into three councils, with Greater Oxford taking 41 parishes from April 2029. Comments are open for about three weeks.

Oxford City Council is set to be replaced by a bigger Greater Oxford Council on 1 April 2029, a year later than first planned. The government said on Thursday 29 October that it is “minded to” split Oxfordshire and West Berkshire into three new unitary councils. It is the same three-council plan Oxford City Council put forward.

It is not final. Councils and “other interested parties” have about three weeks to make their case, and ministers expect to update Parliament before Christmas.

The decision is set out in a 13-page letter from Jim McMahon, the local government minister, to the county’s council leaders.

The three councils

New council What it covers Population (approx.)
Greater Oxford Council Oxford, plus 41 parishes around it 241,000
Northern Oxfordshire Council Most of Cherwell, and all of West Oxfordshire 265,000
Ridgeway Council Most of South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, plus West Berkshire 429,000

Figures are from the minister’s letter. Oxford City Council’s and the county council’s releases call the northern council “North Oxfordshire Council”; the letter says “Northern Oxfordshire Council”.

All seven existing councils, Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council included, would close on 1 April 2029. Elections to the three new councils would be held in May 2028. They would sit as shadow authorities for a year, planning the new councils but not running services.

What changed since July

The government made almost the same decision on 16 July, then paused it in September while it reviewed the whole national programme. The letter says that July decision has now been withdrawn. The Secretary of State is “considering the proposals afresh”.

Three things are different this time:

  • The date. New councils start on 1 April 2029, not 2028. Elections for them move to May 2028.
  • The parish count. The July letter said Greater Oxford would take 25 parishes from South Oxfordshire. The new letter says that was wrong: Oxford City Council’s own schedule listed 17. Greater Oxford would take 41 parishes, not 49.
  • The county’s legal challenge. The county council had started a potential judicial review of the July decision. Because that decision has been withdrawn, the county says it has been told its previous legal action “no longer applies”.

Which parishes would join Greater Oxford

The letter lists all 41, in its Annex A:

  • From Cherwell (15): Begbroke, Bletchingdon, Charlton on Otmoor, Fencott and Murcott, Gosford and Water Eaton, Hampton Gay and Poyle, Horton cum Studley, Islip, Kidlington, Noke, Oddington, Shipton on Cherwell and Thrupp, Wendlebury, Weston on the Green, Yarnton
  • From South Oxfordshire (17): Beckley and Stowood, Berinsfield, Cuddesdon and Denton, Dorchester, Drayton St Leonard, Elsfield, Forest Hill with Shotover, Garsington, Horspath, Little Milton, Sandford on Thames, Stadhampton, Stanton St John, Toot Baldon, Warborough, Waterperry with Thomley, Woodeaton
  • From the Vale of White Horse (9): Appleton with Eaton, Besselsleigh, Cumnor, Kennington, North Hinksey, South Hinksey, Sunningwell, Wootton, Wytham

Botley sits in North Hinksey parish, and Kennington and Kidlington are parishes in their own right. Parish and town councils, and parish boundaries, would stay as they are.

Why ministers chose it

The letter says the one-council plan from Oxfordshire County Council offered “the greatest economies of scale” and the least risk to services. The two-council plan from the four district councils and West Berkshire had “the strongest evidence of councils working together”.

Ministers chose three councils anyway. The letter says the main reason is Oxford’s “tightly drawn boundary”, which separates the city from nearby places with “strong housing, travel, economic and service links with it”. A Greater Oxford council could plan homes, transport and flood risk across the city and those places at once.

The letter is frank about the costs of that choice. It says ministers have “lower confidence in the efficiency evidence” for the three-council plan. It would also mean “the greatest division of existing countywide services”, including adult social care, children’s services and special educational needs. Each new council would be under the government’s guiding population figure of 500,000.

It also records that the 2026 consultation “did not establish a clear consensus” on any plan, and that affected parishes raised “substantive concerns” about rural identity.

What the councils said

Oxford City Council’s leader, Councillor Susan Brown, welcomed it in the city council’s statement.

“The government has chosen the right proposal for Oxford, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire,” she said. “Three councils will simplify local government for residents, keep decision-making local, and give Oxford the space to build new homes.”

Oxfordshire County Council’s leader, Councillor Tim Bearder, said he was “deeply disappointed” in the county council’s statement.

“We are told that this is an entirely new decision and that our previous legal action no longer applies,” he said. “Instead we are now being asked to make our case all over again before ministers take a final decision.”

He said the county would “make that case forcefully” and would “carefully consider our legal options in light of this new decision”.

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes yet. Bins, council tax, schools, roads and social care stay with the same councils until 31 March 2029. Our council tax bands page and bin collection days are unaffected.
  • You can still have a say. The letter invites representations from councils “and other interested parties” for about three weeks from 29 October. The letter does not give an address or a closing date for the public. We will add them here if the government publishes them.
  • If you live in one of the 41 parishes, you would move to Greater Oxford for every council service, including planning and council tax, from April 2029.
  • Money. The letter confirms Oxfordshire will be paid £1.35 million of transition funding in November, half of the £900,000 promised for each new council.

This sits alongside the Thames Valley mayor plan announced the day before, which would put Greater Oxford under a mayoral strategic authority.

Sources