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.
