EVERY four or five years we listen to the debate about what would be best for the people — unitary authorities or the two-tier local government structure currently existing in the county.

It is understandable that city councillors resent county council leaders taking key decisions affecting the city, and want to take control of key services including highways and education.

But a move towards unitary-style authorities, with city and county councils merging — as well as Cherwell and West Oxfordshire, and South and Vale of White Horse district councils — was ruled out in 2007.

The switch to unitaries now appears to be a more distant prospect than ever, with council leaders suggesting that government money is so tight that there are no significant savings left to be made.

But during the past five years councils in Oxfordshire have employed joint working practices to save millions of pounds for the taxpayer.

South Oxfordshire and the Vale councils have slashed their management costs in recent years, while West Oxfordshire has saved a small fortune by working with neighbouring Cotswold District Council.

City council leader Bob Price appears to be lobbying for the city council to have increased powers, but when the majority of council leaders are ruling out a switch to unitaries because the sums don’t add up it is not going to happen any time soon.

What council leaders need to ensure — particularly in Oxford where council leaders come from opposing political backgrounds — is that they maintain close co-operation to benefit taxpayers.

With major projects in the offing such as the redevelopment of the Westgate shopping centre, it seems pointless to quibble over who is currently responsible for maintaining the county’s roads.

The theory of unitary authorities saving money for residents, and stopping councils from passing the buck, is one we applaud.

But if the figures no longer stack up it is understandable that the ambitious scheme has now been sidelined.

There are parts of the country where the unitary model has been made to work – take neighbouring Wiltshire for example – and this debate is not going to go away.