North Oxfordshire or Northern Oxfordshire is expected to be a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. It was planned to be formed on 1 April 2028, with the first elections planned to take place in May 2027. Its largest settlement will be Banbury and it will also include Bicester, Burford, Carterton, Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Witney and Woodstock. The area has a 2024 estimated population of 265,000. Plans to create it were halted in September 2026 and the 2027 election was cancelled.
Formation It will be formed from the existing Oxfordshire district of West Oxfordshire along with Cherwell less 15 parishes which will form part of Greater Oxford.
It is being formed as part of ongoing local government changes throughout England, in which all areas of the country that have separate county councils and district councils will see those replaced with single-tier, or unitary, local governance. The alternative proposals for a single unitary for Oxfordshire (with leaving West Berkshire as is) and for having two unitaries in Oxfordshire and West Berkshire were not accepted. The whole area is parished.
In September 2026, the Oxfordshire proposals were halted by the government and placed under review.
Governance It will be run by North Oxfordshire Council, which will comprise 73 councillors.
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