A WAR of words has erupted over plans for a ‘super council’, with rival authorities ramping up their attacks as they turn on one another.

In an extraordinary exchange, Oxfordshire County Council accused its district counterparts of spreading ‘misleading scare stories’ on social media.

Since last month, it has been campaigning for the six biggest authorities in the county to be scrapped and replaced with a single organisation, which it argues would save £20m a year and make services better.

But in a series of broadsides yesterday, city council leader Bob Price hit out at the super council vision spearheaded by county council leader Ian Hudspeth, branding it ‘a massive threat’ that would put community facilities and local democracy at risk across Oxfordshire.

It comes as as a taxpayer-funded campaign against the plan was launched last night by Oxford City Council, with a petition on website change.org against the project.

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  • The petition, as of early this morning, on Change.org

It warns the shake-up would see people in the city lose control of their own affairs, adding: "Oxfordshire County Council’s track record is that they have closed homeless shelters by cutting grants, they have left communities isolated by cutting bus subsidies, they have devastated families by cutting children’s centres, and they have left our roads riddled with potholes and gridlock.”

Mr Price said: “Our concern is that the proposals mean the voice of the city will be lost, and the vital services that Oxford City Council protects could be put at risk.”

Meanwhile, Cherwell District Council said the county council was ‘closing children’s centres [and] impacting on families’ in a Twitter post.

A county council spokesman responded: “Like many other councils that run social services, Oxfordshire County Council has had to make some difficult decisions as a result of reducing government funding and rising demand for children’s and adult social care.  “It is worrying that Cherwell seems to have little concept of this national situation.”

Running six councils was ‘wasteful and inefficient’ it added, and £400,000 per week of savings could instead go towards protecting services.

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  • The county council and Cherwell District Council's spat on Twitter

It came as emails leaked to the Oxford Mail also revealed council bosses were putting on ice a devolution bid to claw back powers from Westminster.

Peter Thompson, chairman of Oxford Civic Society, accused local authorities of presiding over ‘a shambles’ that could see the county miss out on hundreds of millions of pounds.

He said: “There is a desperate need for councils in Oxfordshire to work together more closely but the unitary council proposals do not have widespread support and now people seem to be jumping ship from the devolution bid.

“This is going to look like a complete shambles to the Government. And I am sure they will also be frustrated because they have clearly recognised the economic potential of Oxford but it now risks not being delivered because of petty squabbling between local authorities here. It is very unfortunate.”

In an exchange yesterday, seen by the Oxford Mail,  local authority leaders poured cold water over proposals to seek hundreds of millions of pounds in funding from the Government.

Responding to an email from Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) chief executive Nigel Tipple, Mr Hudspeth claimed key figures were now ‘casting doubt’ over the prospect of future devolution deals.

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  • OxLEP chief executive Nigel Tipple

He referred to comments by Local Government Association chairman Lord Porter, who this month said devolution was ‘dead’.  Lord Porter said this was because warring councils in England had been offered opportunities by the Government but instead had thrown them ‘back in their face’.

Mr Hudspeth suggested delaying ‘any expenditure’ on the county’s bid until the matter was clear.

He was supported by Matthew Barber, leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, who added: “No point committing expenditure until we know for sure.”

But last night OxLEP boss Mr Tipple said he believed work on the devolution proposals should still continue, adding: “There is definitely merit in working together across the county for improvements to infrastructure and to deliver housing. 

“Ian and Matthew have now said they don’t think things should go ahead ... but what I have said is I think there is merit in continuing to develop the devolution proposals irrespective of any governance discussions happening.

“That would be my advice to them.”