2026

Parish Council response to Local Government Reorganisation - March 2026

West Hendred Parish Council resolved to send a response, regarding local government reorganisation in Oxfordshire. The Parish Council is in favour of option 2, two unitary councils with West Oxfordshire, Cherwell and City in one unitary and West Berks, South Oxon and Vale of White Horse in another.

The rationale behind the decision: option 2 is favoured because of the clear synergies across these largely rural districts. Whereas option 1 would be too large and too remote from rural communities and option 3, creating a Greater Oxford, would dominate city over rural issues. 

We note that this option is also supported by five Councils (South Oxfordshire; Vale of White Horse; West Oxfordshire; Cherwell and West Berkshire) for the reasons we share.