Who we are

We work with South Oxfordshire District Council to provide cost-effective services for our residents. We employ around 450 people, most of whom are based at our offices at 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, OX14 4SB.

There are 36 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.

You can find out more about the Leader of our council here.

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. Find out more information on our Chair here.

The council’s Chief Executive is Mark Stone.

The council’s Acting Deputy Chief Executives are:

  • Andrew Down – Partnerships and 5 Councils Partnership Commercial Director
  • Adrianna Partridge – Transformation and Operations
  • Suzanne Malcolm – Place
You can download our interim operational reporting lines here – June 2020

Services

Our services are divided into the following areas:

Development and Regeneration

Head of department – Emily Cockle

Housing and Environment

Head of department – Liz Hayden (also Designated Safeguarding Lead)

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 – James Carpenter

Finance

Head of department – Simon Hewings (also Section 151 Officer)

Legal and democratic

Head of department – Margaret Reed (also Monitoring Officer, Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer)

Partnerships

Head of department – Andrew Down

  • Growth deal
  • Oxfordshire councils
  • 5 Councils
  • Oxford Cambridge corridor
  • LEP
  • Enterprise zones

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 Chief Executive Mark Stone, you can do so by emailing Executivesupportsav@southandvale.gov.uk or by calling 01235 422100.

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 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.

Where you live

To find out more about Vale of the White Horse and where you live, you can click on the information about your area section of our home page or for more detail about the district you can head to our where I live page

Related information