Oxford City Council is the lower-tier local government authority for the city of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, providing such services as leisure centres and parking. Social Services, Education and Highways services (amongst others) are provided by

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, incl ...

Overview

Between the 2004 local elections, and 2010 the council was in minority administration, first by councillors from the Labour Party, with the Liberal Democrats being the official opposition. In 2006 these roles were reversed, although two years later the council returned to being run by a minority Labour administration.Election 2008: Oxford council
BBC, 2008 before they took full control in 2010. Despite the stereotypical view of Oxford as a conservative city, there are no elected Conservatives on the city council. The

Independent Working Class Association The Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) is a minor working-class political party in the United Kingdom that aims to promote the political and economic interests of the working class, regardless of the consequences to existing political ...

was represented for a decade between 2002 and 2012. Since 2002, elections have been held for Oxford City Council in even years, with each councillor serving a term of four years. Each

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to ...

within Oxford is represented by two councillors, thus all wards elect one councillor at each election. Prior to 2002, the City Council was elected by thirds. In early 2003, the Oxford City Council submitted a bid to become a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

. This was received by the

Department for Communities and Local Government The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for housing, communities, local governme ...

but subsequently rejected. Since 2008, Oxford City Council has been undergoing a programme of Business Transformation which has now been delivered in to the City Council. Oxford City Council contains all of the Oxford East parliamentary constituency, which was won by Labour in the 2010 General Election with an increased majority but was until then a highly marginal seat with the Liberal Democrats. Labour massively increased its majority following the collapse of the Liberal Democrat vote at the 2015 general election. The Council also covers part of the Oxford West and Abingdon parliamentary constituency, which was won from the Conservatives by the Liberal Democrats at the 2017 General Election. In 2016,

put forward a 'One Oxfordshire' proposal which would see Oxford City Council and the four other district councils in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

abolished and replaced with a single unitary county council for Oxfordshire. In 2017, Oxford City Council voiced their opposition to the proposal and it was subsequently dropped. In 2018, the electoral ward boundaries were changed due to population shifts in the city. Therefore all 48 councillors will be elected in 2021 (delayed from 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

), as opposed to half of them. The system of halves will return from 2022 onwards.

Statistics

Oxford City Council political group leaders 2010

;Partisan composition ;Partisan control

Councillors

Climate change

Oxford City Council became the first UK authority to divest from fossil fuel companies in September 2014. In 2011, Oxford City Council had reduced their

carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...

by 25% (against a baseline of 2005/6) and continues to reduce carbon emissions from its own estate by 5% year on year. In 2014, Oxford City Council was named 'Most Sustainable Local Authority' in the Public Sector Sustainability Awards. Oxford City Council leads the Low Carbon Oxford network – a collaboration of over 40 organisations working together to reduce emissions in the city by 40% by 2020. Oxford City Council also leads on delivering the annual Low Carbon Oxford Week festival, which uses culture, creativity and, community to inspire local people to take action on climate change. In 2015, the festival saw over 60 local organisations partner to deliver over 100 events across the city and attract over 40,000 visitors.

Energy Superhub Oxford

Energy Superhub Oxford is a power optimisation project at the Redbridge

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...

. It includes a

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also s ...

of 48MW/50MWh, a

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pass ...

flow battery of 2MW/5MWh, 20 fast

electric vehicle charger A charging station, also known as a charge point or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a piece of equipment that supplies electrical power for charging plug-in electric vehicles (including electric cars, electric trucks, electric b ...

s for public use and ground-source heat pumps for residential properties.

References

External links

Oxford City Council website
{{Authority control

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...

Non-metropolitan district councils of England Billing authorities in England Local authorities in Oxfordshire