Cllr Ian Snowdon is the South Oxfordshire District Councillor and Oxfordshire County Councillor for Didcot West.
In 2015, the Conservatives won 33 of South Oxfordshire’s 36 council seats, having also secured 33 seats in 2011.
Today, I am the only Conservative left on the district council.
The decline came in two stages: down to ten seats in 2019, then just one in 2023. For the past four years, I have sat as a non-aligned councillor, providing a Conservative voice on a council run by the Liberal Democrats.
The picture across Oxfordshire is equally stark. At the 2024 General Election, we lost every parliamentary seat we were defending in the county. Even the historic Conservative stronghold of Henley, once represented by Michael Heseltine and Boris Johnson, fell to the Liberal Democrats under new constituency boundaries. So did Witney, formerly represented by David Cameron.
I believe the Brexit divisions of 2019 played a part in our losses, but we cannot blame everything on national politics. We must recognise that some residents had lost confidence in us locally. Winning back their trust means listening, learning and, above all, delivering.
That same test of delivery must apply to the Liberal Democrats running South Oxfordshire today.
Growth without the infrastructure
South Oxfordshire is a remarkable district. Beautiful countryside and historic market towns sit alongside one of Britain’s most important centres of science and innovation.
Science Vale, spanning South Oxfordshire and the neighbouring Vale of White Horse district, includes the internationally significant Harwell, Culham and Milton Park campuses, supporting tens of thousands of jobs in fusion energy, space technology, life sciences and artificial intelligence.
Yet while world-leading investment and thousands of new homes arrive, infrastructure too often falls behind.
I am 55 and have lived in Didcot all my life. I see the consequences firsthand. Roads promised years ago remain unfinished, healthcare facilities are delayed and community infrastructure has failed to keep pace with development.
Residents aren’t against growth. They simply expect the infrastructure they were promised to arrive alongside it.
At Great Western Park, a major Didcot housing development of around 3,300 homes, three allotment sites were required. The first should have been delivered before the 1,000th home was occupied. Years after completion, not one has materialised.
Some developments were approved when Conservatives ran the council, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But promises to residents must be honoured, regardless of which administration made them.
Money and accountability
The previous Conservative administration raised district council tax just once in four years. Under the Liberal Democrats, residents have faced repeated maximum increases, despite the council holding substantial reserves and earning £8.6 million in investment income last year.
With such considerable resources available, I believe the council should be looking to freeze council tax rather than automatically increasing it by the maximum permitted amount each year. In December 2024, South Oxfordshire councillors approved a 34 per cent increase in their basic allowances — the annual payments councillors receive. I spoke strongly against it in the council chamber and publicly challenged the decision in the press.
The neighbouring Vale of White Horse District Council received the same Independent Remuneration Panel recommendations but set its allowances below the recommended level.
If the Vale could reject the full recommendation, why couldn’t South Oxfordshire? At a time when residents face rising household bills, councillors should be setting an example.
Environmental promises versus delivery
The Liberal Democrats have made the climate emergency central to their political identity. Yet the council’s target to make its own operations carbon neutral was pushed back from 2025 to 2030, while its ambition for the entire district was delayed from 2030 to 2045.
The council’s own reports suggest a full switch to electric refuse vehicles is unlikely before 2034/35, several years after its revised 2030 carbon neutrality deadline.
Declaring an emergency is easy. Delivering meaningful environmental improvements is considerably harder.
I would rather see allotments delivered, nesting birds protected and developers held to their obligations.
I successfully challenged proposals to build a council compound on land designated as a wildflower meadow. Protecting biodiversity should mean practical action, not another declaration.
Who is holding officers to account?
The introduction of a replacement computer system for property searches — checks carried out when people buy or sell homes — caused delays and uncertainty for residents and solicitors. A subsequent Joint Scrutiny Committee review identified weaknesses in project governance, risk management, communications and access to specialist expertise. These were not abstract administrative problems. They affected residents making some of the biggest financial decisions of their lives. I believe the administration has become increasingly officer-led, with insufficient political challenge. Councillors are elected to lead, not simply approve whatever is placed before them.
Reorganisation and our reserves
The Government has confirmed its intention to replace Oxfordshire’s existing councils with three new unitary authorities, including a new Ridgeway Council bringing together most of South Oxfordshire, the Vale of White Horse and West Berkshire from April 2029.
That makes the May 2027 district elections important. Those elected will scrutinise decisions during a transition with lasting financial consequences.
South Oxfordshire has substantial reserves built up over many years. With West Berkshire facing serious financial pressures, residents deserve reassurance that their money will not simply disappear into a larger authority without clear local benefits.
Reorganisation must deliver better services and value for money, not just redraw boundaries.
What we would do in 2027
Having spent four years as South Oxfordshire’s sole Conservative councillor, I know rebuilding representation will not be easy.
I have been working on a Conservative manifesto built around practical commitments: freezing council tax and councillor allowances, delivering promised infrastructure, restoring confidence in planning, protecting biodiversity through measurable action and ensuring proper scrutiny of major council projects.
We must also ensure local businesses and communities benefit from Science Vale’s extraordinary investment. Conservatives cannot expect to regain support simply because voters become dissatisfied with another party.
We must earn it through hard work, visible results and acknowledging where we previously fell short.
I have always believed that being a councillor means working for residents, not the council itself.
After four years as South Oxfordshire’s only Conservative councillor, the lesson is simple: Opposition matters, accountability matters, and delivery matters most of all.