Petitions for a referendum on a different form of governance

Under the above Act, a local council must hold a referendum on whether the council should change to a different form of governance, if at least 5% of the local government electors in that area petition the local council to do so.

All local councils are required to publish each year the number of electors which corresponds to that 5%, on the basis of the electoral registers for the area as at 15 February each year.

The numbers for the purposes of determining the validity of petitions presented before 1 April 2014 for each of the local councils in Oxfordshire are:

Cherwell District Council - 5,246 electors
Oxford City Council - 5,536 electors
South Oxfordshire District Council - 5,225 electors
Vale of White Horse District Council - 4,745 electors
West Oxfordshire District Council - 4,055 electors
Oxfordshire County Council - 24,807 electors

These figures will apply until 31 March 2014 provided that the new figure to be calculated in 2014 is not lower than the numbers published above.

Anyone contemplating organising a petition will need to have regard to the requirements for petitions set out in The Local Authorities (Referendums) (Petitions) (England) Regulations 2011; otherwise the petition may be invalid. Further details may be obtained from the addresses below.

Published by Peter Clark, Proper Officer of Oxfordshire County Council on behalf of:

Cherwell District Council, Bodicote House, Bodicote, Banbury OX15 4AA
Oxford City Council, Town Hall, St Aldates, Oxford OX1 1BX
Oxfordshire County Council, County Hall, Oxford OX1 1ND
South Oxfordshire District Council, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford OX10 8ED
Vale of White Horse District Council, Abbey Close, Abingdon OX14 3JE
West Oxfordshire District Council, Woodgreen, Witney OX28 1NB