OXFORDSHIRE’S councils could get control of £300m extra to spend each year if they were given greater powers, leaders have said.

County council Conservative leader Ian Hudspeth yesterday called for local control of business rates, some national taxes and for longer-term cash settlements from central Government.

And Bob Price, Labour leader of Oxford City Council, backed the call and said the powers could be handed to the Oxfordshire Growth Board, a body made up of the county’s local authorities.

It came after the Greater Manchester Combined Authority was promised more autonomy and £1bn of funds by the Government in exchange for creating a directly elected mayor.

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That has led to calls from other councils around the country for greater devolution, a handover of powers from central Government to local authories.

The Local Government Association has said this could transfer spending power of £40bn to councils, with Oxfordshire’s share being roughly £300m each year.

Mr Hudspeth told the Oxford Mail: “Oxfordshire is a net contributor to the economy and we want to keep growing it, but at the moment we do not have the powers in transport, health and skills that we need. 
“It is about being able to address issues locally and not taking a top-down approach. 
“At the moment, for instance, the Highways Agency has control over the A34, so we have to go to Whitehall to ask for improvements. 
“But if we had that power we could look at solutions using our own local knowledge. 
“With business rates and other taxes it would not be about raising more money, it would be about making sure money raised is spent in Oxfordshire for the benefit of people here. 
“As a former shopkeeper myself, I was amazed when I found out that the money goes to central Government and then is sent around the country. 
“If Oxfordshire had control, business leaders could come and speak to me about their problems and they could be addressed locally.” 
At a conference of the County Councils Network in Marlow, Bucks, yesterday, Mr Hudspeth argued that councils should gain powers over or a share of business rates, sales and income tax, as well as the ability to decide who should be eligible for council tax discounts.
He also said councils should be given cash settlements from the Government for longer periods of time, such as five years, to cover the spending review period and have greater flexibility for borrowing.
Areas in which more devolution should take place include transport – where powers could be more akin to those wielded by Transport for London – as well as employment and planning, Mr Hudspeth said.
Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said the Oxfordshire Growth Board could be “the obvious vehicle” for the devolution.
The growth board was established this year to control £55.5m funds released by the Government in the multi-million pound Oxford and Oxfordshire City Deal. 
Mr Price said: “This is what has been suggested by the Labour Party and if it wins next May that is what will happen.
“It would be for local authorities to propose to central Government which powers they would like and on what basis. The authorities in Manchester came together to do that and elswhere in the country there are some groupings that could do it and decide what works best.
“Here, the Oxfordshire Growth Board could do exactly that. Currently it has a limited remit, but for these kind of powers it would be the obvious vehicle.”
Mr Hudspeth said he agreed with Mr Price that the Oxfordshire Growth Board would make a good authority for taking on devolved powers. 
But he hinted that the more powers handed over, the better the case for a unitary authority – one council encompassing all of Oxfordshire – would be. 
He added: “The growth board has all the democratically elected leaders already, which would mean they could talk about the priorities for their areas.  But as we got more powers, we would be able to see whether that affected what the delivery should be.”
Oxfordshire Town Chamber Network director Keith Slater said he would welcome new powers for transport, but cautioned against those which allowed “interference.” 
He said: “From a business point of view you want councils to be creating a good environment for us to prosper in, but able to interfere with what we do.  
“They can do that by making more housing and land available and by providing better transport links. 
“In this county our biggest problem is unpredictability with transport, so I would certainly welcome more powers to enable them to make bigger transport decisions on roads such as the A34 and A40. 
“I doubt that business rates would fall if they fell in to council control, but rates enormously worry me anyway because they fall too heavily on retail and small businesses, as opposed to large business. 
“I couldn’t see them coming down unless something was done to change the valuations.”

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