Parties vie for support from Cherwell voters

With the local elections on the horizon, BBC Oxford assembled the parties fighting to gain control of three district authorities to hear their proposals for your local areas.

On Tuesday, it was the turn of Cherwell District Council, where 18 of the authority's 48 seats are up for grabs.

The council is currently run by the Liberal Democrats with support from four Green Party councillors.

Both the Conservatives and Labour have considerable representation on the council - with the former almost exclusively controlling the authority between 1976 and 2022.

As part of Tuesday's debate, all five main parties were asked to put together a "minute manifesto" on why voters should put an X in their box come 7 May.

Lesley McLean, the Lib Dem leader of Cherwell District Council, said the authority was currently "well run, protects taxpayers' money and delivers excellent services to the public".

She said under Lib Dem leadership, the council would continue "to focus where it matters".

This, she said, would involve "building on successes" like the introduction of at-home glass recycling and investment in town centres.

"This election is about steady, responsible, local leadership, keeping Cherwell well run, resident-focused and moving forward with confidence," McLean added.

Conservative group leader Eddie Reeves, who joined the debate via phone, said his party was focused on "good local growth".

"Our key concern is that under Liberal Democrat control we have ever-spiralling housing numbers, without really any proper control," he said.

On local government reorganisation, he said he was "sceptical" about plans for a county-wide unitary authority.

"We don't think that will be the right deal for local residents here in north Oxfordshire," he added,

He added that his party would be happy to work with "any party that had a sensible policy prospectors for us locally", including Reform UK.

Labour were invited to take part in the debate but said it was unable to send a representative. Instead, its leader on the council, Andrew Crichton, sent in his proposals for the authority.

He said existing Labour councillors in the district "get things done".

"Labour's candidates live here and have led at Cherwell on cost-of-living support, housing issues and defended local services," he said.

He added: "We champion our wards, fight to make things better for residents and will always stand against divisive politics."

A vote for the Green Party, which is currently the de facto power-broker on the council, would mean a "greener, cleaner, healthier and safer community", its group leader Ian Middleton said.

"We listen to residents and have knocked on thousands of doors to hear what people want from their district council," he said.

"Potholes are the main complaint and Greens are lobbying the government for more funding to improve the situation in the long term."

Middleton, who represents a ward in Kidlington, also called for a public inquiry into the enormous waste dump that was discovered in the town last year.

This proposal was supported by all four parties taking part in the debate.

Reform, which currently has no representation on the authority, was the "party of hard-working, alarm clock Britain", Ian Hodgson said.

"We don't believe in discrimination of any kind, we don't care about the colour of your skin or your sexual preference," he said.

Among the policies proposed by his party are plans to make policing "visible", "repeal laws that limit free speech" and "reduce wasteful spending".

He said his party had a "common sense approach".

"Anybody that has an approach that we agree with, we will work with, even the Greens," he added.