Banbury and Bicester would move to a Northern Oxfordshire Council on 1 April 2029, a year later than planned, and Kidlington to Greater Oxford. Views are open for about three weeks.
Cherwell District Council is set to be abolished after all, a year later than first planned. The government said on Thursday that it is “minded to” replace Oxfordshire’s councils with three new unitary councils, the same model it chose in July and then paused in September.
Banbury and Bicester would be run by a new Northern Oxfordshire Council from 1 April 2029. Kidlington and 14 other Cherwell parishes would go to a new Greater Oxford Council instead.
The decision is provisional. Councils and “other interested parties” can now make representations before a final decision is taken.
What the minister decided
Jim McMahon MP, the local government minister, set out the provisional view in a letter to Oxfordshire and West Berkshire council leaders dated 29 October. He and the Secretary of State are “currently minded to implement the three unitary option submitted by Oxford City Council with modifications to the proposed boundaries”.
The seven existing councils, including Oxfordshire County Council, would be replaced by:
- Northern Oxfordshire Council: Cherwell, minus 15 parishes, plus all of West Oxfordshire. Population about 265,000.
- Greater Oxford Council: Oxford City plus 15 Cherwell parishes, 17 from South Oxfordshire and nine from the Vale of White Horse. Population about 241,000.
- Ridgeway Council: the rest of South Oxfordshire and the Vale, plus West Berkshire. Population about 429,000.
The population figures are the letter’s own approximations.
The letter says the northern council “would include the established market towns such as Banbury, Bicester and Witney, alongside surrounding rural communities with distinct identities”.
The new timetable
The councils were originally due to start on 1 April 2028. The new dates are a year later.
| What | July plan | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Cherwell district elections | Cancelled | Go ahead, May 2027 |
| Elections to the new councils | May 2027 | May 2028 |
| New councils take over | 1 April 2028 | 1 April 2029 |
Cherwell’s own release confirms that the district elections in May 2027 “will go ahead in May 2027 on the existing council boundaries”. As we reported in September, 16 of Cherwell’s 48 seats, one in each ward, are due for election then.
The government’s announcement says there will be “a period of three weeks minimum for further representations before final decisions are taken”. Cherwell says an update will then be made to Parliament before Christmas.
The villages moving to Greater Oxford
These are the 15 Cherwell parishes listed in Annex A of the letter as joining Greater Oxford:
- 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
The Cherwell list is unchanged from July. The letter does correct one figure. The July decision said 25 South Oxfordshire parishes would move into Greater Oxford, which “did not reflect the parish schedule” Oxford City Council submitted. The correct number is 17.
The minister acknowledges the objections. The letter says affected parishes “have raised substantive concerns that transferring to the proposed Greater Oxford Council would not reflect their rural identity or their relationships with surrounding market towns”. It concludes that the three-council model still gives each area “a clearer institutional focus”. Town and parish councils, and their boundaries, would remain.
What the government admits it is less sure of
The letter is candid about the model’s weak points. The government has “lower confidence in the efficiency evidence submitted for the three unitary option due to the scale and timing of savings”. It adds that the option “would also involve more service disaggregation and the most complex implementation requirements”.
It rejected the two-council model that Cherwell backed with West Oxfordshire, South Oxfordshire, the Vale and West Berkshire. That plan, it says, “would respond less comprehensively” to the problem of Oxford’s tight boundary.
Cherwell: “let down” again
Cllr Lesley McLean, leader of Cherwell District Council, said in the council’s release:
“Cherwell residents have, yet again, been let down by this government’s decision to progress with the three unitary proposal. This feels like another missed opportunity.”
She added: “While this decision provides certainty, councils have spent several weeks in a holding pattern only to arrive at largely the same destination. Residents will reasonably ask what the delay has achieved and whether the concerns raised by councils and communities have been properly considered.”
She said the council would now focus on “putting the new authorities in the best possible position to succeed from day one”.
The money
The letter confirms Oxfordshire will receive half of the £900,000 transition grant promised per new council. That comes to £1.35 million, paid in November. The rest follows a final decision, along with £150,000 per new council for leadership in children’s services, adult social care and public health.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. Cherwell still collects your bins, handles planning and sends your council tax bill. The joint 3councils.org site, run on behalf of the councils, says: “For now, nothing changes.”
- You vote in May 2027 for a Cherwell councillor as normal, and in May 2028 for the new council.
- If you live in Kidlington, Yarnton, Begbroke or one of the other 12 parishes listed above, you would be in Greater Oxford, not Northern Oxfordshire. The 3councils.org site has a map to check your address.
- You can still have a say. The letter invites representations from “relevant councils and other interested parties”. It does not give a deadline date or an address for submissions; we will add them here if the ministry publishes them.
This is separate from the plan for a Thames Valley mayor, which is following its own timetable.
Have your say