Oxford City Council is an organisation that shapes its own future, and in doing so drives a progressive and inclusive agenda for the City. ‘The City of dreaming spires’ is home to two world-class universities, an increasingly diverse population and a sustainable and growing economy.

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We are engaged in the issues of the City, and we are pivotal and influential in how we respond to them. We have an ambitious and dynamic agenda that requires close working with a complex set of external partners to ensure that Oxford continues to be a leading City in the world.

Oxford is one of the fastest-growing UK Cities, we are ethnically and culturally diverse with the third highest ethnic minority population in the South East. We are determined to ensure the Council is representative of our communities and we are working hard to tackle inequality.

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We are a City of great potential, and our ambition has been developed with our partners. Our priorities are focussed on addressing the key needs of the City. By creating successful places in which to live and work, supporting our communities and addressing the climate emergency, we will build a fairer, greener city in which everyone can thrive.

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Our 2024-2028 Strategy lays out 5 key priorities within the following:

  1. Good, affordable homes

  2. Strong, fair economy

  3. Thriving communities

  4. Zero carbon Oxford

  5. A well-run council

The planned work includes building hundreds of new homes, supporting young people into work, tackling health inequality, and improving the quality of the Council’s 8,000 council homes. 

The Council will also continue to deliver a range of statutory services, including bin collections, street cleaning, licencing, housing provision and planning. 

Oxford City Council, which produces a strategy every four years, worked with local partners, organisations, community groups, businesses and residents to develop the Corporate Strategy 2024-28. A public consultation on the draft strategy was held between January and March 2024.

The Council Strategy 2024-28 was approved by the Council’s Cabinet on 10 July 2024.

With our success comes many opportunities, but there are also considerable challenges that need addressing if the City is to achieve its full potential. There is a lack of land for housing and employment, transport infrastructure is at full capacity, and a skills gap threatens to constrain the city’s growth potential. We have significant assets in the City but the cost of housing is causing hardship for many people, especially those in lower-paid jobs.

We are clear in our ambition to create a ‘world-class city for everyone’ and ensure that ‘excellent public services are at the heart of everything’. We want an inclusive economy that benefits all and gives everyone a brilliant chance in life. We are working hard to secure long-term investment in the City that supports growth and prosperity to benefit all our residents.

Over the last few years as many public sector bodies have pursued strategies to reduce their size and outsource service delivery, we’ve been bold in our ambition to capture the benefits of commercialisation whilst retaining control of the quality of services and the way they are delivered. This approach means the Council is financially robust and gives us the ability to invest in services for our residents in ways we couldn’t if solely reliant on business rates and council tax.

We are a changing organisation that is embracing cultural transformation.

We are a bold, ambitious and dynamic organisation that is breaking down operational silos whilst empowering our staff.

Working for Oxford City Council will expose you to a broad range of activities and partners that you wouldn’t expect when working for a local authority. You will be part of a progressive agenda and working for an organisation that is making things happen.

Oxford City Council is a proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme.

As a Disability Confident employer, we will offer an interview to any applicant who declares they have a disability and meets the minimum defined criteria for the job. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.

Contact

For further information on the role, please contact the following consultant at our recruitment partner, Tile Hill, who will be happy to answer any questions that are not covered here: