WE HAVE been very heartened by the many expressions of support that we have received for the District Unitary proposals for devolution that we launched last week.

There is widespread agreement that our proposals combine the best of localism, with the new councils remaining close to their communities, with the capacity to capture the benefits of scale economies through the coordinating role of the new combined authority.

The new unitary councils are built on the very extensive integration that has already been built between Cherwell and South Northants, West Oxfordshire and Cotswold, and the Vale and South Oxfordshire Councils.

These joint arrangements have already delivered improvements in services and substantial efficiencies.

Our proposals are innovative; they reduce the number of councils from eight to four, and they break the mould of two tier local government.

They also offer a new way to manage the vital functions of adult social care in partnership with the NHS.

This provides a fresh basis for delivering health and social care in an integrated way, saving money and keeping people in their own homes as they grow older, rather than in hospitals or care homes.

The devolution package itself is designed to unlock Oxfordshire’s amazing economic potential by improving transport infrastructure, adult skills training, and well planned and sustainable housing developments.

The UK remains a highly centralised country, but the government plans to devolve all business rates income by the end of the Parliament, and our proposals will create a platform that allows us to fully capture the benefits of that income for our citizens.

It is clear that a single county unitary is not a viable option for the government; it would also fail to deliver savings, due to the complexities of unravelling and integrating the wide range of different current arrangements for service delivery, and the over- extended nature of the consequential management structures.

Our joint district proposals have been welcomed by all our county MPs, and are supported by all the districts, and many colleagues from business, education, health and social care who have spoken to us since the launch.

It offers an exciting future for the county and for our residents, and we invite our colleagues on Oxfordshire County Council to work with us to set out the case for these novel proposals.

The final word will of course be with our residents through local consultation and decision through the existing authorities.

We hope that the government will be bold, and give us the green light to move ahead quickly to flesh out the proposals and kick off a new era for British local government.

CLLR MATT BARBER
CLLR JOHN COTTON
CLLR IAN MCCORD
CLLR SIR BARRY NORTON
CLLR BOB PRICE
CLLR BARRY WOOD