A REVISED blueprint that could dictate the county's future was launched by council leaders this morning.

The joint proposal by Oxfordshire County Council, Vale of White Horse District Council and South Oxfordshire District Council sets out their controversial bid to become a unitary authority.

As with the county council's initial One Oxfordshire document released in January, the amended Better Oxfordshire proposal would see the county, district and city councils abolished and merged into a 'super council'. 

The 148-page document outlines changes such as a giving Oxford its own 'city convention'; effectively its own council that will control community services and have the power to raise its own council tax precept to spend on these.

It will also increase the number of area boards, which oversee certain decisions at a more localised level.

In January the proposal outlined only five of these, but now there is scope for around 15-20.

Speaking at the launch at Saïd Business School this morning, county council leader Ian Hudspeth said: "We have listened carefully and made improvements. There has been a noisy campaign against the proposal but I do not believe that represents public opinion.

"The new standalone city council's control will be hardwired into the constitution. I invite the city council to join us to make this a success."

Oxford City Council, Cherwell District Council and West Oxfordshire District Council have so far shunned the unitary bid. 

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said the proposals have continually been altered and the county council should send the latest proposals to every household in Oxfordshire for comment before wholesale changes are made to local accountability and decision making.

He added: "Our position remains the same. We call on the County Council to end this wasteful exercise that now seems more confused than ever and focus instead on solving the issues we are all facing over housing, infrastructure and skills shortages."

Supporters claim it will save £100m and make the system more simplistic, while objectors fear it will reduce localism and affect grant funding.

Speaking at the launch, Vale leader Matthew Barber said: "It's vital we look for simpler, better and lower-cost ways to deliver services."

South Oxfordshire District Council leader John Cotton added: "People are worried about a large council being remote [but] the establishment of area executive boards will involve town and parish councils, police and health services and maybe charities."

A new statistic released by the councils today states that 70 per cent of people in the county back the idea of a unitary authority, according to door-to-door interviews with 500 residents across the county.

The Oxford Mail's local government reporter Matt Oliver pointed out this was a much smaller sample size than a poll being undertaken by the objecting councils.

However a spokeswoman for the county council said: "Our sample size is highly statistically reliable and representative and big enough to give a clear cut level of support for Better Oxfordshire. 

"Our survey approach (face-to-face personal interviews) is recognised as the ‘gold standard’ for surveys."

She said the telephone survey method used by the three other councils suffer 'problems of survey bias'. 

The Better Oxfordshire document is set to be approved by each council's cabinet within the next couple of weeks, before being submitted to the Government before the end of March. 

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government will then consider the case for and against and ultimately decide whether or not to allow a unitary council to form. 

More information about the proposal can be found here.