LOCAL control of health service budgets in Oxfordshire has been included in a £4bn bid to secure major new powers from the Government.

The bid was yesterday submitted by the county’s six main councils, the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, with backing from both of Oxford’s universities.

The authorities want spending powers to support roads and major transport schemes, skills training, housing and – it emerged last night – the NHS.

As revealed last month, talks had previously been over a deal, that would not have included health, worth about £300m over a five-year period.

But it is understood that in the final weeks before the Government’s deadline of September 4, bosses from the Oxfordshire CCG joined discussions and backed proposals for more cooperation between health and social services.

A spokeswoman for the LEP said discussions would now begin between those backing the bid and the Government.

A final deal would have to be approved by each of the six councils after a public consultation.

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said: “The CCG’s inclusion in the bid makes sense in terms of tackling major issues like bed blocking, but also the location of GP surgeries. There are huge things to be gained if you can do something with it.”