Thanx very much for this. I congratulate you on your ability to adopt such an equanimous tone in the light of such a decision.
Since many of my facilities and services as an Abingdon resident will be the responsibility of Greater Oxford City Council, how may I have a say in the management of those facilities and services?
Or to suggest an answer to my question, can we 'outsiders' prevail upon the Greater Oxford City Council to establish a consultative mechanism for us to have a say on the management of the facilities and services that affect us so directly?
Much of the public response I've seen has been around simple money issues - those in South/Vale concerned about the financial situation of West Berkshire and those living there fearing rises in Council Tax, which is currently somewhat lower than elsewhere by about £100 pa per Band D property. Whilst these are important and some sort of statement is needed the debate needs to move on to how Ridgeway can work.
It is a largely rural area with a few towns in the 35k-45k bracket, a few more somewhat smaller, and lacks a single focus town or city within it (Oxford & Reading remaining important outside itbfor those nearby). This will require a distribution of service provision. West Berkshire at least has the experience of being a unitary but this is a much bigger job.
As an ignorant outsider, it would appear sensible to me to have one unitary council representing the whole of Oxfordshire, as favoured by the County Council. I wonder what motivated the City Council to go for the three council option?
I suggest there are 2 reasons why the Oxford City Council advanced its 3 council proposal. First, if you were concerned only with the city, you would expand its size and capacity to expand housing and other resources without changing its character as a city.
Secondly, if you were Oxford City Council currently controlled by Labour you would expand its size but carefully exclude Abingdon as a Liberal Democrat area so you wouldn't loose Labour control of the expanded council.
There needs to be more differentiation in the writing between when the county or local authority is being referred to. Abingdon is, and always has been, in Berkshire. It was only placed within a local authority (inappropriately) named ‘Oxfordshire’, which coincidentally was created the last time local government was reorganised in 1974. That last change was for administration only, and did not change traditional county boundaries. This new round of reorganisation is for the local authority areas again. Oxfordshire and Berkshire, by the same way, never changed. Abingdon and the whole Vale remain within Berkshire, as they always have.
Thank you for your considered write-up, Nathan. I suppose a big question is where will the new authority be based? Geographically, Harwell is fairly central… might that be a good location for an assembly headquarters? And if so, should enquiries be made now to identify potential sites?
Three big brand new council areas. That probably means now two spanking newly built council buildings , staff shifted around based on service split provision.
West Bershire debt to cover.
Its obvious council tax will go up and services will suffer or decline
Do you know whether local referendum was ever considered to make the final decision? I suspect the level of engagement would be very low, but it seems significant enough to warrant one
Thanx very much for this. I congratulate you on your ability to adopt such an equanimous tone in the light of such a decision.
Since many of my facilities and services as an Abingdon resident will be the responsibility of Greater Oxford City Council, how may I have a say in the management of those facilities and services?
Or to suggest an answer to my question, can we 'outsiders' prevail upon the Greater Oxford City Council to establish a consultative mechanism for us to have a say on the management of the facilities and services that affect us so directly?
Much of the public response I've seen has been around simple money issues - those in South/Vale concerned about the financial situation of West Berkshire and those living there fearing rises in Council Tax, which is currently somewhat lower than elsewhere by about £100 pa per Band D property. Whilst these are important and some sort of statement is needed the debate needs to move on to how Ridgeway can work.
It is a largely rural area with a few towns in the 35k-45k bracket, a few more somewhat smaller, and lacks a single focus town or city within it (Oxford & Reading remaining important outside itbfor those nearby). This will require a distribution of service provision. West Berkshire at least has the experience of being a unitary but this is a much bigger job.
As an ignorant outsider, it would appear sensible to me to have one unitary council representing the whole of Oxfordshire, as favoured by the County Council. I wonder what motivated the City Council to go for the three council option?
I suggest there are 2 reasons why the Oxford City Council advanced its 3 council proposal. First, if you were concerned only with the city, you would expand its size and capacity to expand housing and other resources without changing its character as a city.
Secondly, if you were Oxford City Council currently controlled by Labour you would expand its size but carefully exclude Abingdon as a Liberal Democrat area so you wouldn't loose Labour control of the expanded council.
Maybe, but actions often have (unintended) consequences and Greater Oxford will now contain a lot more LibDem areas on its periphery.
By the way, does anyone else think the map of Greater Oxford looks a bit like a face, which is about to eat Abingdon!
There needs to be more differentiation in the writing between when the county or local authority is being referred to. Abingdon is, and always has been, in Berkshire. It was only placed within a local authority (inappropriately) named ‘Oxfordshire’, which coincidentally was created the last time local government was reorganised in 1974. That last change was for administration only, and did not change traditional county boundaries. This new round of reorganisation is for the local authority areas again. Oxfordshire and Berkshire, by the same way, never changed. Abingdon and the whole Vale remain within Berkshire, as they always have.
Thank you for your considered write-up, Nathan. I suppose a big question is where will the new authority be based? Geographically, Harwell is fairly central… might that be a good location for an assembly headquarters? And if so, should enquiries be made now to identify potential sites?
Three big brand new council areas. That probably means now two spanking newly built council buildings , staff shifted around based on service split provision.
West Bershire debt to cover.
Its obvious council tax will go up and services will suffer or decline
It will take five years to settle down IMO
Do you know whether local referendum was ever considered to make the final decision? I suspect the level of engagement would be very low, but it seems significant enough to warrant one
The Green Belt boundary seems to straddle various authorities.. Who is responsible for defining the boundary going forward?