Who we are
We work with South Oxfordshire District Council to provide cost-effective services for our residents. We employ around 640 people, some of whom are based at our offices at Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, OX14 3JE. The vast majority of council staff have hybrid working arrangements meaning they can work from home or other remote locations, or in the office.
There are 38 elected councillors. You can read more about your councillors and how they make decisions on how the council is run in our Local Democracy webpages.
There’s more information about the Leader of our council on our Leaders page.
Each year, our Council Leader appoints a Chair of the Council – this is a non-political role that involves chairing meetings and representing the council at community events. You can find more information on our Chair’s page.
The council also has Aldermen, an honorary title which can awarded to distinguished former councillors in recognition of the service they provided to the council and the district. There’s more about our Aldermen on our website.
We are in the process of recruiting a new Chief Executive.
The council’s Deputy Chief Executives are:
- Adrianna Partridge – Transformation and Operations (also Designated Safeguarding Lead and Head of Paid Service)
- Suzanne Malcolm – Place
- Andrew Down – Partnerships and 5 Councils Partnership Commercial Director
Services
Our services are divided into the following areas:
Development and Corporate Landlord
Head of department: Andrew Busby
- Economic Development
- Property
- Community centres
- Leisure centres
- Car parks
- Parks maintenance and toilets
- Cemeteries
- Health and safety
Housing and Environment
Head of department – Paul Fielding
- Housing needs (including housing register, homelessness)
- Environmental and neighbourhood nuisance issues (including environmental health, food and workplace safety, restaurant food hygiene ratings, how to report fly-tipping)
- Recycling and waste collections
Planning
Head of department – Adrian Duffield
- Prepares and consults on statutory plans for land use and development in the district
- Gives expert advice to developers and the public
- Scrutinises and determines planning applications
- Investigates contraventions of planning approvals and rules and takes appropriate action
- Conservation area appraisals, Listed buildings and Tree Preservation orders
- Transport infrastructure
- Footpaths
Corporate services
Head of department: Mark Minion
- Accessibility, equality and diversity
- Planning for emergency situations
- Communications and Engagement Team
- Customer services and complaints
- HR
- IT
Finance
Head of department: Simon Hewings (also Section 151 Officer)
- Finances
- Procurement
- Revenues and Benefits (including Council Tax and Housing Benefits)
- Business Rates
- Benefit Fraud Investigation
Legal and democratic
Head of Department: Nick Bennett (also Monitoring Officer and Data Protection Officer)
- Legal department
- Land charges
- Elections
- Council meetings
- Licensing (including taxis and pubs and clubs)
- Information governance (Data Protection, FOI/EIR)
- CCTV
Communities
Head of Service Phil Barker
- The Beacon
- Arts Development
- Migration and Housing
- Community Hub
- Community Safety
- Active Communities
- Garden Communities
- Community Grants
Policy and Programmes
Head of department: Tim Oruye
- Climate
- Corporate Plan
- Planning policy (including Local Plan, Neighbourhood planning, Oxon 2050, S106/CIL Policy)
Partnerships
Head of department: Andrew Down
- Future Oxfordshire Partnership
- Oxfordshire councils
- 5 Councils
- Oxford Cambridge corridor
- LEP
- Enterprise zones
Monitoring Officer
The council’s Monitoring Officer is Nick Bennett.
Chief Executive
If you have a matter that cannot be dealt with by the relevant team or Head of Department, or you feel you need to escalate it to our Deputy Chief Executives, you can do so by emailing Executivesupportsav@southandvale.gov.uk or by calling 01235 422100.
Senior Management organisational structure
Under the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 we are required to publish the top 3 levels of management structure and salary grade. View our senior management organisational structure.
Jobs
To see job opportunities at the council please see our current vacancies page.
Trade Union facility time
We are required to publish this data on the amount and spend of facility time in respect of staff who are Trade Union representatives.
Constitution
Vale of White Horse District Council’s constitution document sets out how the council operates, how decisions are made and the procedures which are followed to ensure that these are efficient, transparent and accountable to local people. Some of these processes are required by the law, while others are a matter for the council to choose.
