Strong service and financial performance alongside progress on key projects for West Oxfordshire residents
West Oxfordshire District Council has reported a strong start to the 2026/27 financial year, with high customer satisfaction, reliable services, a positive financial position and progress on major projects. The quarter one review covers April to June 2026.
Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance, said:
“We have made a positive start to the financial year, with strong services, a sound financial position and good progress on projects across West Oxfordshire. It is encouraging to see strong results in planning, customer satisfaction, leisure and waste, alongside significant improvements in our Revenues and Benefits service.
We are carrying on where we left off in the last financial year and we continue to provide good quality services and manage our budgets responsibly.”
Planning services performed particularly strongly during the quarter, with all major planning applications determined within agreed timescales, alongside 99% of minor applications and 97% of other applications.
Customer satisfaction scores remained high with telephone calls at 99% and face-to-face service at 100%. Non-Domestic Rates collection exceeded target, while processing times for Council Tax Support and Housing Benefit performed well.
Waste services continue to deliver reliable services for residents. Just 37 out of 100,000 collections were missed and 90% of service failures were resolved within 24 hours. West Oxfordshire performs strongly on recycling nationally, ranking 14th out of 164 waste collection authorities in the latest available national data.
Where services fell below target, improvement plans are in place. Additional staff have joined the Customer Service team to improve customer call waiting times to have calls answered below the 120 second target and avoid long waiting periods seen with other service suppliers.
An improvement plan is in place for land charge searches. The Council wants to complete 90% of searches within 10 days to build on the recent award won by the team for the way they manage data.
West Oxfordshire also ranked within the top 7.6% of councils nationally for Disabled Facilities Grant delivery times in 2024/25, helping residents live independently in their homes.
The Council has also made a positive financial start to the year. Garden Waste has already achieved around 90% of its annual income target and is expected to contribute about £300,000 towards Council services this year. Although it is early in the financial year, initial indications point to continued strong financial performance following the previous year where the council came in under budget and was able to invest in improving the quality and efficiency of its services.