The focus of the past month has been on the elections to the district council. Many congratulations to Carl Rylett for his re-election to WODC, and for taking up the post of Chair of the Council if elected at the AGM on Wednesday.
There has however been a lot going on at County Hall and in the county.
Cabinet changes
The County Council will have a new Leader, Tim Bearder, following the illustrious footsteps of Liz Leffman. This should be confirmed at an EGM on Wednesday morning.
In addition there are new cabinet members in key portfolios and a rejigging of the portfolio responsibilities, e.g. to create a single highways cabinet member and one for public transport.
We felt it was important to refresh the team to be as strong as possible for the remaining two years (probably) of the County Council’s existence. The new cabinet members are young, intelligent and energetic, and committed to fulfilling our pledges to make Oxfordshire Greener, Fairer and Healthier.
I am pleased to remain as the cabinet member with responsibility for Finance and Property.
Funding cuts
A key focus will be on managing the reduction in income from government.
The government announced a 3 year “settlement”, which includes cuts to grants to the County Council of over £24m. That will require cuts, which we will try to make as painless as possible to vulnerable residents. It may however be difficult to maintain services that are not statutory. Over 70% of revenue spend is on Adult Social Care and Children’s services, looking after people who need support. We will need to prioritise those statutory, often life critical, services above others.
It also requires us to put up Council Tax by 4.99% per annum, as instructed by the government.
Road maintenance
As everyone will have noticed, road surfaces have suffered after the years of neglect.
Without full resurfacing, each year will see new potholes. These are being fixed, but as ever money is an issue. It would cost around £60m to keep the roads in a steady state, and even steady state means potholes each year. The government has given £39m to the County Council, which is clearly inadequate. We topped this up by £30m, borrowed and needing to be repaid.
So you will notice two sets of works. Filling of potholes, such as those on Lower Road and on the A40. In addition there is an £8m surface dressing programme under way – if you have travelled to Botley from Eynsham, you will see an example of this working.
There is also a £4m gulley rebuilding programme. The annual gulley clearance, revived after being reduced to once every four years under the previous administration, showed that a lot of gulleys need substantial reconstruction after the decades of neglect.
Gulley maintenance is vital as we cope with increased levels and intensity of rainfall caused by climate change.
Road construction
On the construction side of things, Shores Green junction is nearly complete. The surfaces are laid, lines painted, and all that remains is putting up, setting and testing the traffic lights. It is ahead of schedule.
Among other things, I expect less traffic to use Lower Road and Cuckoo Lane given the alternative way to join the A40 westbound.
The work to prevent right turns at the Barnard Gate junction is scheduled for the next few weeks. This is in response to the numerous collisions there.
Local Government reorganisation
The government has said it will tell us by the summer parliamentary recess what shape Local Government will take in Oxfordshire. It is unfortunate the Greens, as the largest party in the City Council, and with the offer of support from the Lib Dems, have allowed Labour to continue to run the City Council and promote their Greater Oxford unitary idea which will, among other things, leave a very small and probably insolvent northern unitary, including Eynsham. Both the other options, and especially the single Oxfordshire unitary, will be more efficient, with bigger savings and better service delivery. But the government will decide.
As ever, please do get in touch with queries, casework, comments or anything else.
dan.levy@oxfordshire.gov.uk