Fears Oxfordshire taxpayers will have to pay Berkshire debt

County councils are being abolished throughout England as the Labour Government is pressing for reorganisation to end two-tier local government systems.

Two of the three proposals to reorganise Oxfordshire County Council would see the creation of ‘Ridgeway Council’, which would be made up of South Oxfordshire District Council, the Vale of White Horse and West Berkshire Council.

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But Digby Oldridge, who lives in the village of Longcot in the Vale of White Horse has raised alarm about the financial implications of the reorganisation.

Specifically, he has claimed West Berkshire Council has a pension deficit of around £600 million.

Mr Oldridge therefore questioned how such financial deficits would be managed if Ridgeway Council was created.

He contacted Charlie Maynard, the Liberal Democrat MP for Witney, about the debt.

Mr Maynard received a response in a letter from Alison McGovern, Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness.

Witney MP Charlie Maynard (Image: supplied)

The letter states: “On liabilities, it is expected that assets and liabilities remain locally managed by councils.

“It is essential that councils continue to deliver their business-as-usual services and duties, which remain unchanged until reorganisation is complete.

“There is a suite of general continuity regulations for local government reorganisation made under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 which ensure smooth transfer to new unitary councils.”

Mr Oldridge argued that taxpayers in Oxfordshire would be left to shoulder West Berkshire’s debts.

He said: “The letter effectively confirms that if this merger goes ahead, West Berkshire’s debts will just be ‘locally managed’ by the new council.

“In plain English, that means South Oxfordshire and Vale taxpayers are being asked to take on a share of a pension deficit that is north of £600 million.

“It also means we would be merging with a council that is currently under emergency financial support from the government after their reserves dropped to just eight days’ worth of funding last year.”

West Berkshire Council received £16 million worth of Exceptional Financial Support from the government in February 2025.

In response, a West Berkshire Council spokesperson said: “The new Ridgeway Council would have the assets and liabilities from the previous councils, and in West Berkshire Council’s case, there are over £0.7 billion of assets and £0.4 billion of liabilities with net assets of £280.7 million, as of March 31, 2025.”

The government consultation into the reorganisation of Oxfordshire County Council into unitary authorities closed earlier this month.

Ridgeway could either be made up of the entirety of the three existing councils, or be reduced in size, losing  25 parishes from South Oxfordshire and nine parishes from Vale of White Horse Greater Oxford Council.

Alternatively, one option would be to effectively convert the existing county council into a unitary council, with no boundary changes whatsoever.