UK Government has opened a public consultation to review the three potential options for local governance in Oxfordshire. Residents are invited to assess the options and share their views online.
The three options – and the Councils that support them – are listed below:
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Oxfordshire County Council has proposed 1 unitary council which would comprise the areas of Cherwell, Oxford City, Oxfordshire County, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Oxfordshire.
This proposal can be reviewed here: One Oxfordshire | One Oxfordshire
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Cherwell District Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council and West Oxfordshire District Council have proposed 2 unitary councils. These would comprise the areas as below:
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Oxford and Shires Council: Cherwell, Oxford City and West Oxfordshire.
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Ridgeway Council: South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, plus West Berkshire.
This proposal can be reviewed here: Home | Two Councils
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Oxford City Council has proposed 3 unitary councils. This includes a request to split existing district council areas between the proposed new councils. This would result in the three new councils comprising of:
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Greater Oxford Council – Oxford City (includes boundary change)
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Northern Oxfordshire Council – most of Cherwell and West Oxfordshire
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Ridgeway Council – South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, plus West Berkshire.
This proposal can be reviewed here: 3Councils
We would advise residents to review the three proposals carefully before answering the questions as part of the consultation on this website: Consultation on Proposals for Local Government Reorganisation in Oxfordshire - Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Citizen Space
Views shared will be considered by the Government when they make their decision on the future for local governance in our area.
This public consultation will run until 26 March. Any concerns or questions about responding to the consultation can be directed to LGRconsultationresponse@Communities.gov.uk.
The Parish Council will be discussing the proposals at our full Council meeting before submitting a response. Residents are welcome to attend the meeting to hear our discussions, either in person at the Village Hall or online via a link in the agenda. Keep an eye on the meetings page for the agenda: eynsham-pc.gov.uk/meetings.aspx
For more background, we wrote about this process previously in spring 2025: Eynsham Parish Council News: Update on local governance reform (22 Jan 2026). Oxfordshire