Banbury and Bicester will help elect a Thames Valley mayor in 2028. The board would seat upper-tier councils, so Cherwell would speak through Oxfordshire.
Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington are set to help elect a Thames Valley mayor in 2028. The government named the region in Wednesday’s Budget as one of ten areas it is close to a devolution agreement with.
The new mayoral strategic authority would cover Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Swindon. It would take on transport, housing, skills and investment across the whole area. Cherwell District Council would keep running bins, leisure and local planning.
There is a catch for the district. The mayor would share power with a board, and Cherwell’s own announcement says that board would be made up of representatives of the “upper tier” councils. In Oxfordshire that is the county council, not Cherwell.
What the government announced
The Budget 2026 document says the government is “in the final stages of agreeing 10 new devolution agreements”. Eight are mayoral strategic authorities, and one of them is “Thames Valley (Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Swindon)”.
Cherwell District Council said the announcement came with a proposed £9.1 million for the region from the government’s new Good Growth Funds. The money is for growth projects while the authority is being set up. The Budget document itself does not list allocations by area.
The Budget also sets out money that follows a mayor:
- from April 2027, mayors receive a share of business rates income, plus 20% of business rates growth in their area
- from 2028-29, mayors get a share of income tax
- strategic authorities will be able to bring in visitor levies
Cherwell signed up three days earlier
On 26 October the leaders of 13 councils wrote to the devolution minister, Jim McMahon. Cherwell’s leader, Councillor Lesley McLean, was one of the signatories.
The letter admits the leaders do not all agree on the map. “You heard a range of principled views on the best geography for the region when we met,” it says. They agreed to go ahead with Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Swindon so as not to “lose the opportunity”.
The 13 councils are:
- Oxfordshire County Council
- Cherwell, Oxford City, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire
- Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Wokingham, and Windsor and Maidenhead
- Swindon
Who would sit on the board
Cherwell’s announcement says the authority “would be led by an elected mayor and Board comprised of representatives from all upper tier authorities”.
Oxfordshire has two tiers of council. The county council runs roads, schools and social care. Cherwell is the district council underneath it. So on that description, Cherwell would not have a seat of its own, and Banbury and Bicester would be represented on the board by Oxfordshire County Council. The Berkshire unitaries and Swindon have only one tier, so each would get a seat.
The councils’ shared questions and answers page puts it more loosely. It says “local council leaders will sit on the MSA board alongside the mayor, ensuring every area within the MSA has a voice”. The detailed proposal, which would settle this, has not been published yet.
That is the context for Cllr McLean’s statement, which is noticeably more cautious than other leaders’.
“Cherwell recognises the potential benefits that devolution could bring for our district and the wider Thames Valley, including the possibility of increased investment,” she said. “While questions remain about how any future arrangements would work in practice, it is important that local communities continue to be properly represented.”
“As we have said previously, our priority remains ensuring that local Cherwell voices continue to be heard and that any future arrangements deliver meaningful benefits for our residents, communities and the distinct places that make up our district.”
What a mayor would control
The councils’ page lists the areas a Thames Valley authority would act on:
- transport and infrastructure investment
- strategic housing and spatial planning, with an emphasis on social housing
- skills and training
- business support and inward investment
- low-carbon energy
- economic development and innovation
Among the benefits it promises are “low-carbon transport upgrades along the M4 and M40 corridors”. The M40 runs past both Banbury and Bicester. The page gives no detail of what those upgrades would be.
What stays with Cherwell
The council says local councils would still be responsible for:
- bin and waste collections
- social care
- housing
- schools
- leisure
- local planning
Social care and schools are run by Oxfordshire County Council, not Cherwell. You would still contact the same council as now for each of them.
This is a separate process from local government reorganisation. That plan would abolish Cherwell and create new unitary councils, and the government paused it in September.
What happens next
The 13 councils will now write a detailed proposal. Each is due to approve it for consultation in December, and a stakeholder consultation is planned for the New Year.
A formal proposal would go to the government in spring 2027. The authority would be set up in shadow form later that year. The first mayoral election would follow in 2028.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. Your bins, council tax bill and planning applications stay where they are.
- You will get a new vote. Expect a Thames Valley mayoral election in 2028.
- You can have a say first. A consultation is planned for the New Year. We will publish the dates and the link when it opens.
- Watch the board question. The proposal councils approve in December should say who sits on the board. Cherwell’s councillors will vote on it.
- Cost is not yet answered. Some existing mayors add a charge to council tax bills. The councils’ page does not say whether a Thames Valley mayor would.
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