This evening at St Helen’s Church, Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council elected a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Cllr Andrew Skinner, became the new Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames. Cllr Skinner represents Caldecott ward and spoke warmly about his chosen charity, the Abingdon Music Centre, praising the positive impact music can have on people’s lives.

The new Deputy Mayor is Victoria Walker, who represents the Fitzharris Wildmoor ward. She is a vaccine researcher at University of Oxford.

Cllr Rawda Jehanli completed her year as Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames. She said it had been “the greatest honour” to be Mayor.

As outgoing Mayor, Cllr Jehanli presented a number of awards. In a change from the usual practice, two local businesses were recognised for their help and support during the year —  The Crown and Thistle Hotel and The Hilton Garden Hotel.

Awards were also presented to Philip Bingham of Abingdon Food Bank, Martin Richards of the Scouts, and Holly Freeland of The Abingdon Bridge. The outgoing Mayor also thanked her cadets and chaplains for their support throughout the year.

Cllr Jehanli announced that over £6,000 had been raised for her chosen charity, Occtopus – Oxford Colon Cancer Trust.

Yesterday there was a by-election in Abingdon for two seats:  Abbey Northcourt District Council and Abbey Town Council.

During the campaign, the Liberal Democrats predicted a two-horse race, suggesting that a vote for Labour or the Greens would help Reform or the Conservatives to win.

To people in the street, it looked like a two-horse race between the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. The Lib Dems were winning on staked banners. The Greens were winning on posters in people’s windows.

Yesterday was polling day.

The result in the Abbey ward was a close two horse race between the Lib Dems and Greens. Congratulations to Carol, from the Lib Dems, who has already done a lot for the town through her work as a Girl Guide leader.

The result in the Abbey Northcourt ward was clearer. Congratulations to Caleb. The Greens again came a strong second.

At the moment, Abingdon is within Vale of White Horse District Council and Oxfordshire County Council. That means different services are currently provided by two levels of local government.

The national government is asking people for their views on three different options to reorganise local government in Oxfordshire. All three would replace the current system of county and district councils with new unitary councils – single authorities responsible for all the principle services.

Town and parish councils, including Abingdon Town Council, would continue as they are with minor changes.

The diagram above shows how responsibilities would move from the current two-level system to unitary councils. The consultation on the three options runs until 26 March 2026.

Two of the three proposals include West Berkshire, even though it is not in Oxfordshire. This is because the government expects new unitary councils to serve around 500,000 people or more, and South Oxfordshire and the Vale together do not add up to that much.

Option 1 — One unitary council for all Oxfordshire – based on the current Oxfordshire County Council boundaries – proposed by Oxfordshire County Council.

This would replace all the district councils with a single council covering the whole of Oxfordshire. The single council would serve around 780,000 people.

Option 2 — Two unitary councils – Proposed by the four district councils and West Berkshire unitary council – combines existing district and city councils

This would create two new authorities:

• Oxford and Shires Council (Cherwell, Oxford City, West Oxfordshire)
• Ridgeway Council (South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Berkshire)

Each would have just under the 500,000 population the government is looking for.

This would be smaller and presumably more local than Option 1. It would also renew Abingdon’s ancient Berkshire link. The northern part of Berkshire was moved into Oxfordshire in 1974, with Faringdon, Wantage and Abingdon and their villages becoming the Vale of White Horse district. Didcot and Wallingford were added to South Oxfordshire (1).
Option 3 — Three unitary councils – is about creating a Greater Oxford as proposed by Oxford City Council

It would create:

• Greater Oxford Council (Oxford City plus surrounding land)
• Northern Oxfordshire Council (Most of Cherwell and West Oxfordshire)
• Ridgeway Council (South Oxfordshire, most of the Vale of White Horse, and West Berkshire)

These councils would be smaller than the government’s 500,000 population guideline, which could make this option less viable.

There are a lot of documents to read and you can respond to the consultation at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-reorganisation-in-oxfordshire/proposals-for-local-government-reorganisation-in-oxfordshire

Unfortunately there will be no referendum. The final decision will be taken by central government.

Ref 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshire

By-elections will take place in Abingdon on Thursday 12 March 2026, following the resignation of Green Party councillor Cheryl Briggs. Cheryl served as Mayor of Abingdon from 2021 to 2022 and had been a councillor since 2019. In 2025 she was Vice-Chair of the Environment and Amenities Committee and a member of the Community Committee. She was also a district councillor

I took a picture of the Green Party candidate and supporters crossing the Market Place today. They and the Liberal Democrats have already been active. Nominations close on 13 February so we won’t know the full list of candidates until then.

What happened last time: Abbey ward (Town Council, 2023)

Elected

Liberal Democrat – 537 votes (40.5%)
Green Party – 485 votes (36.6%)

Not elected

Labour – 174 votes (13.1%)
Labour – 130 votes (9.8%)

The town council currently has 18 Liberal Democrat councillors and one vacancy.

What happened last time: Abbey Northcourt (District Council, 2023)

Elected

Liberal Democrat – 1,109 votes (34.3%)
Green Party – 948 votes (29.3%)

Not elected

Conservative – 389 votes (12.0%)
Labour – 299 votes (9.3%)
Conservative – 273 votes (8.4%)
Labour – 215 votes (6.7%)

The district council currently has 31 Liberal Democrat councillors, 3 Green councillors, 2 independents, and 2 vacancies.

At the 2019 and 2023 elections, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party each stood one candidate, even though two seats were available. The next full election of town councillors (and possibly district councillors, depending on local government reorganisation) is due in May 2027.