The Oxford City Council provides local government for the city of Oxford in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Overview

Between the 2004 local elections, and 2010 the council was in minority administration, first by councillors from the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

, with the Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 being the official opposition. In 2006 these roles were reversed, although two years later the council returned to being run by a minority Labour administration. before they took full control in 2010. With five city councillors and two county councillors, Oxford has one of the highest Green Party

Green Party of England and Wales

The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...

 representation for a British city. The Independent Working Class Association

Independent Working Class Association

The Independent Working Class Association is a minor working-class political party in the United Kingdom that aims to promote the political and economic interests of the working class, regardless of the consequences to existing political and economic structures...

 has one councillor, and their support is confined to a small number of wards, among them the Blackbird Leys

Blackbird Leys

Blackbird Leys is a civil parish and ward in Oxford, England, and is one of the largest council estates in Europe. According to the 2001 census, the ward had a population of 5,803. Unlike most parts of the City of Oxford, the area has a civil parish. The parish was created in 1990. Its 2001 parish...

 housing estate

Housing estate

A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...

 in the south east of the city. See Oxford Council election 2004

Oxford Council election 2004

Elections to Oxford City Council were held on 10 June 2004. The council is elected by halves, so one seat in each ward was up for election . Labour lost majority control of the council but remained in minority administration...

 for further information.

Since 2002, elections have been held for Oxford City Council in even years, with each councillor serving a term of four years. Each electoral ward within Oxford is represented by two councillors, thus all wards elect one councillor at each election. Prior to 2002, the City Council was elected by thirds.

In early 2003, the Oxford City Council submitted a bid to become a unitary authority

Unitary authority

A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...

. This was received by Communities and Local Government but subsequently rejected.

Since 2008, Oxford City Council has been undergoing a programme of Business Transformation

Business transformation

Business transformation is the fundamental change to the way a business operates, whether that be moving into a new market or operating in a new way It is an approach that attempts to align an organisation's activities relating to people, process and technology more closely with its business...

 which is now being embedded in to the City Council in anticipation of further change following the new government of May 2010.

Oxford City Council contains all of the Oxford East parliamentary constituency, which was won by Labour in the 2010 General Election with an increased majority but was until then a highly marginal seat with the Liberal Democrats.
The Council also covers part of the Oxford West and Abingdon parliamentary constituency, which was won from the Liberal Democrats by the Conservatives at the 2010 General Election, albeit with a very small majority.

Statistics

Partisan composition

Year	Labour	Lib Dem	Green	IWCA	Independent	Conservative	Source
2000	21	21	7	1	0	1
2002	29	15	3	1	0	0
2004	20	18	7	3	0	0
2006	17	19	8	4	0	0
2008	23	16	7	2	0	0
2010	26	16	5	1	0	0

Partisan control

Majority control of Oxford City Council

Years	Party
2010–present
2004–2010
2002–2004
2000–2002
1980–2000
1976–1980
1973–1976

Councillors

Ward	Name		Party	Elected
Barton and Sandhills	Van Coulter	2010
Barton and Sandhills	Mike Rowley	2010*
Blackbird Leys	Rae Humberstone	2010
Blackbird Leys	Val Smith	2008
Carfax	Tony Brett	2010
Carfax	Stephen Brown	2008
Churchill	Joe McManners	2010
Churchill	Mark Lygo	2008
Cowley	Shah Khan	2010
Cowley	Bryan Keen	2008
Cowley Marsh	Mohammed Abbasi	2010
Cowley Marsh	Saj Malik	2008
Headington	David Rundle	2010
Headington	Ruth Wilkinson	2008
Headington Hill and Northway	Mohammed Altaf-Khan	2010
Headington Hill and Northway	Roy Darke	2009*
Hinksey Park	Bob Price	2010
Hinksey Park	Oscar Van Nooijen	2008
Holywell	Mark Mills	2010
Holywell	Nathan Pyle	2008
Iffley Fields	David Williams	2010
Iffley Fields	Elise Benjamin	2008
Jericho and Osney	Susanna Pressel	2010
Jericho and Osney	Colin Cook	2008
Littlemore	Gill Sanders	2010
Littlemore	John Tanner	2008
Lye Valley	Ben Lloyd-Shogbesan	2010
Lye Valley	Bob Timbs	2008
Marston	Mary Clarkson	2010
Marston	Beverley Hazell	2008
North	Alan Armitage	2010
North	Clark Brundin	2008
Northfield Brook	Scott Seamons	2010
Northfield Brook	Stuart Craft	2008
Quarry and Risinghurst	Dee Sinclair	2010
Quarry and Risinghurst	Laurence Baxter	2008
Rose Hill and Iffley	Antonia Bance	2010
Rose Hill and Iffley	Edward Turner	2008
St Clement's	Graham Jones	2010
St Clement's	Nuala Young	2008
St Margaret's	Jim Campbell	2010
St Margaret's	Gwynneth Royce	2008
St Mary's	Dick Wolff	2010
St Mary's	Matt Morton	2008
Summertown	Jean Fooks	2010
Summertown	Stuart McCready	2008
Wolvercote	John Goddard	2010
Wolvercote	Michael Gotch	2008

* By-election