Click here to read the Greens Consultation response
Oxfordshire Green Party has made a submission to the County Council's One Oxfordshire proposals. This is mainly the work of Councillor David Williams, leader of the Green Group on the County Council. He comments,
The One Oxfordshire proposal suggests a single unitary council running many local services across the whole county of Oxfordshire. This is remote, centralised and means even more decisions about services being made by people who do not represent areas similar to those they have been elected to serve. Oxford councillors generally lack the knowledge they need to decide on issues in rural Oxfordshire; councillors in rural Oxfordshire are not generally accustomed to dealing with Oxford's big city challenges, opportunities and social problems like bad housing policies, under-funded social services and schools and significant air pollution.
David emphasises the Green alternative,
We can save money on local government but retain local identity with three unitary councils for Oxfordshire. If we divide Oxfordshire into north, central and south we get: Cherwell and West Oxfordshire; Oxford City; the Vale of the White Horse and South Oxfordshire. These are quite integrated areas with clear identities.
Our door to door canvassing has failed to demonstrate any appreciable support for the idea of one unitary council for the County. People in Oxford particularly are very much opposed to this idea. Will the County Council and allied groups impose a single council on the County, or will they be democratic and give the public the choice in a referendum?
Click here to read the Greens Consultation response
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