Vale of White Horse District Council is the local authority for the

Vale of White Horse The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. It was historically a north-west projection of Berkshire. The area is commonly referred to as the 'Vale of ''the'' White Horse'. It is crossed by the Ridgeway Nat ...

, a

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shire counties'') in a two-tier arrangement. Non-m ...

in the south-west of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, that was created on 1 April 1974.

Political control

Vale of White Horse UK ward map 2010 (blank)

At the first elections in 1973 forty-nine district councillors were elected from thirty-one

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and distri ...

. Currently thirty-eight councillors are elected from twenty four

, which cover the principal towns of Abingdon,

Faringdon Faringdon is a historic market town in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, south-west of Oxford, north-west of Wantage and east-north-east of Swindon. It extends to the River Thames in the north; the highest ground is on the Rid ...

and

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...

and surrounding villages. This was effective from the 2015 elections. Between 2011 and 2019 the council had a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

majority. The Liberal Democrats took control from May 2019. Elections of the full council take place every four years. At the

May 2019 local elections May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

, the Liberal Democrats overcame the Tories' 20-seat majority to become the major party with a 24-seat majority.

Premises

The council was initially based in a number of offices inherited from its predecessor authorities across the district. In the early 1990s the council built itself a new headquarters in Abingdon called Abbey House (or "New Abbey House" to distinguish it from the neighbouring building formerly also called Abbey House, which was renamed "Old Abbey House"). In 2014 the council largely vacated Abbey House, retaining only a small presence there, with most of Abbey House since 2014 being occupied instead by

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, includ ...

. Vale of White Horse moved most of its staff to share the offices of its neighbour

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The a ...

Crowmarsh Gifford Crowmarsh Gifford, commonly known as Crowmarsh, is a village in the civil parish of Crowmarsh in South Oxfordshire. It is beside the River Thames opposite the market town of Wallingford, the two linked by Wallingford Bridge. Crowmarsh parish a ...

, but in 2015 that building was destroyed in a fire following an arson attack. From 2015 until 2022, Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire shared temporary office accommodation at

Milton Park Milton Park is a mixed use business and technology park in Oxfordshire, England, operated by MEPC plc. It is just south of the village of Milton, about west of Didcot. It is on the site of a former Ministry of Defence depot between the A34 ...

near

Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage, Di ...

. The two councils returned to Abbey House in 2022 as a temporary measure, with the intention being to build a new shared headquarters in Didcot.

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/ Local authorities in Oxfordshire Non-metropolitan district councils of England Vale of White Horse

Political control

Premises

See also

References

External links