The Leader and Cabinet Member for Partnership Working, Inclusive Economic Growth and Culture decides as follows: 

1.    To grant project approval for officers to initiate a procurement process for a Strategic Partner to support Oxford City Council in the design and implementation of a Greater Oxford, in the event that the 3 Councils Local Government Reorganisation submission is confirmed by Government as their preferred model for Oxfordshire and West Berkshire.

2.    To delegate authority to the Transition Director to undertake the procurement, in consultation with the Group Finance Director. 

Project approval to initiate the procure a strategic partner, with delegated authority to the Transition Director to undertake the procurement will support timely and swift mobilisation following the Government’s formal LGR decision. 

This approach mitigated the risk of delay to programme delivery and ensures the Council is well-positioned to meet the Government’s timeline for mobilisation and transition to a new authority that must vest on 1 April 2028. 

Given the scale, complexity and compressed timescales associated with the design and implementation phase, existing officer capacity and capability alone would not be sufficient to meet the programme requirements without additional specialist support. The final decision on appointment of a preferred strategic partner will rest with Cabinet ahead of any contract being signed.  

Another option considered would be to seek Cabinet approval for the appointment of a strategic partner first and then commence procurement. However, this would risk the procurement process not being able to start until late August, with onboarding of a strategic partner unlikely before late November. This would leave insufficient time to develop design options for the new Greater Oxford unitary authority to present to an incoming newly elected Shadow Authority in May 2027. 

A further option considered would be not to procure a strategic partner and instead to recruit additional resource into the council to undertake the design and delivery work for the new unitary authority. With so many local authorities going through LGR at the same time the market for the types of specialist skills needed is extremely tight and officers are not confident that the recruitment would be successful. Recruitment on this scale would also likely create delays, leaving insufficient time to undertake the work required.