FAQs

Who is responsible for what?

There are three levels of local government in Littlemore. In increasing order of importance and budget they are:

There is a detailed breakdown about the difference between the City and County councils here. Here is a more brief outline:

County CouncilCity CouncilLittlemore Parish Council
Responsibilities
  • Adult and children’s social care
  • Education and learning
  • Highways and transport
  • Public health improvement and prevention services
  • Waste disposal and recycling
  • Fire and rescue, and community safety
  • Libraries, cultural, registration and Coroner’s services
  • Planning
  • Council housing
  • Community centres
  • Leisure centres
  • Parks
  • Licensing
  • Bin collection
  • Street cleaning
  • Management of three parks
    • Oxford Road Rec
    • Herschel Crescent Rec
    • Newman Park (alongside ring road)
  • Installation of small-scale things e.g.
    • Bins
    • Benches
    • Bus shelters
  • Commenting on planning applications (although we have no decision-making powers)
  • Lobbied for Oxford Road speed bumps
  • Running community grant scheme (up to £500)
  • Annual litter pick
  • Projects like the LTN survey and 17th Feb public transport meeting
  • Publishing local newsletter Littlemore Local
Funding
  • 60%: council tax (74% of council tax bill)
  • 21%: central government grants
  • 11%: business rates
  • 8%: fees and charges
  • 22%: council tax (15% of council tax bill)
  • 11%: business rates
  • 7%: government grants
  • 31%: fees and charges (e.g. car parks, licensing, planning)
  • 9%: council owned companies
  • 18%: commercial property rent
  • 2%: interest on investment
  • Council tax (2.4% of author’s council tax bill, see here for a breakdown of charges by parish)
  • 15% of CIL and S106 from development in Littlemore (see below)
Sources: County 2022-3 funding here, City 2022-3 funding here and here

What is CIL and S106?

  • CIL (community infrastructure levy), is a planning charge on new development to help the funding of infrastructure. It is paid by the developer.
    • The City Council set and collect the levy, co-ordinate the spending of the funds and report this to the community. See more here and here.
    • These funds tend to be less specific than S106 (see below).
  • S106 (Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) allows a local planning authority, like Oxford City Council, to enter into a legally-binding agreement or planning obligation with a landowner as part of the granting of planning permission. At parish level, this results in us receiving some funds to spend on specific things e.g. “sports and leisure facilities” or “public art”.
  • There is typically a five year time limit for spending CIL and S106 funds, though this can not apply if it is being saved for a larger project.
  • CIL is not collected for social housing projects (see e.g. here)

Who is responsible for new doctor’s surgeries?

  • Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for deciding what and where medical services are needed. Our local one is “BOB ICS”.
  • Services ICBs commission include:
    • most planned hospital care
    • rehabilitative care
    • urgent and emergency care (including out-of-hours)
    • most community health services
    • mental health and learning disability services.
  • The trend with GP surgeries is consolidation into larger sites, and there are a falling number of GPs
  • It is possible (though difficult) to lobby the local CCG to include a new GP surgery in the primary care plan

Who is responsible for new dentists?

  • You can find more information here.

How much do highways works costs?

People often ask for various highways works (zebra crossings etc.) but are often surprised at the magnitude of the costs involved. This article summarises typical costs for common projects: https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/article/1281/Costs-of-highway-works