Photo: Steve Daniels · CC BY-SA 2.0The Liberal Democrats hold a majority on Vale of White Horse District Council
Cothill is run by Vale of White Horse District Council and Oxfordshire County Council, with St Helen Without parish council for local matters. The Liberal Democrats have a majority on Vale of White Horse District Council and Oxfordshire County Council. Its MP is Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat), member for Oxford West and Abingdon.
£2,537
Band D, a year, the middle band every council sets its tax from.
Where it goes →How Cothill’s politics has changed since 2021
A majority on Vale of White Horse District Council
The Liberal Democrats hold a majority on Vale of White Horse District Council: 34 of its 38 seats as elected. The Greens hold 3, the Conservatives 1. Who’s in charge ↓
Oxfordshire in 2025
Oxfordshire County Council, which runs schools, social care and roads, has a Liberal Democrat majority at the May 2025 election: the Liberal Democrats won 36 of 69 seats. Oxfordshire ↓
Council tax
A Band D bill in Cothill is £2,537 for 2026–27; Vale of White Horse District Council keeps 7% of it. The council area’s Band D has risen 58% in ten years, against England’s 56%. Council money ↓
Written from the data on this page: Democracy Club results since May 2021, the UK Parliament Members API and MHCLG council tax.
Who holds the seats on Cothill’s councils
Seats by party as elected. A party needs 20 of Vale of White Horse’s 38 or 35 of Oxfordshire’s 69 seats to run the council alone.
- Liberal Democrat34
- Green3
- Conservative1
Latest election: May 2023.
- Liberal Democrat36
- Labour12
- Conservative10
- Green7
- Independent2
- Henley Residents Group1
- Reform UK1
Latest election: May 2025.
Seats are counted from election results: each ward’s most recent winners until its seats are filled. Councillors who have since changed party or resigned aren’t reflected, and which parties lead the council, and who is leader, comes from the council itself.
Results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0), elections since May 2021; seats per ward from its EveryElection.
Two tiers of council, and a parish tier
Cothill has two tiers of council: the county runs the big services, the district the local ones.
Local matters: allotments, play areas, halls, footpaths and benches; it is consulted on planning and adds a precept to the council tax bill. A town council is a parish council by another name.
100% of Cothill’s residents · Band D precept £65
Bins and recycling, planning, housing, environmental health, leisure, and collecting council tax.
Website ↗Schools, social care, roads and transport, libraries and waste disposal.
Website ↗Who to ask
From GOV.UK’s “Understand how your council works”: in two-tier areas the district or borough runs local services and the county the big ones.
Councils from ONS lookups (wards and councils May 2026, parishes 2025), names and websites from GOV.UK’s local council finder; parish councils from MHCLG’s 2026–27 list of precepting parishes.
From the parish to Westminster
Every elected tier that speaks for Cothill, from the most recent elections.
- 1Town or parishParish tierSt Helen Without parish council
- 2Vale of White Horse District Council1 ward · 1 councillorVal Shaw
- 3Oxfordshire County Council1 division · 1 councillorJames Richard Plumb
- 4Police and crime commissionerThames Valley Police · elected May 2024Matthew Barber
- 5House of CommonsOxford West and Abingdon
Party colours are neutral on purpose: they tell parties apart and aren’t the parties’ own. Tap an MP’s name for their contact page on parliament.uk.
1 councillor for 1 ward
Wards with at least 2% of the town’s residents, or half their own inside it. Each shows who won its most recent elections, newest first, until its seats are filled.
- Val ShawLiberal Democrat · May 2023
Show as a table, with Oxfordshire County Council’s 1 division (1 councillor)
| Ward | Seats | Elected | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wootton8% in Cothill · 292 residents1 seat · May 2023 | 1 | Val Shaw | May 2023 |
Oxfordshire County Council: county divisions
| Division | Seats | Elected | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcham & Cumnor ED2% in Cothill · 292 residents1 seat · May 2025 | 1 | James Richard Plumb | May 2025 |
Councillors can resign, change party or sit as independents between elections; a by-election winner replaces someone not named here. Vale of White Horse District Council’s website lists who sits now.
Results from Democracy Club’s candidates database (CC BY 4.0; elections since May 2021) and ward seats from its EveryElection, matched to ONS wards (May 2026) and county divisions (May 2025).
Vale of White Horse council election, May 2023
Results in the wards that make up Cothill, as declared. Percentages are of votes cast for candidates in each ward; where a ward elects several councillors, each voter has that many votes.
1 ward voted. Every seat in the town’s wards was up.
No election is scheduled yet for Cothill’s wards in Democracy Club’s list. Councils publish a notice of election about five weeks before polling day.
Who can I vote for? ↗951 votes for candidates
Candidates and results: Democracy Club (CC BY 4.0), from councils’ declared results; polling dates from Democracy Club’s EveryElection.
Cothill is in Oxford West and Abingdon constituency
The constituency’s MP and the 4 July 2024 general election, the whole constituency’s result (it reaches beyond Cothill).
45,998 votes for candidates · majority 14,894
Liberal Democrat, MP since 8 June 2017.
turnout in July 2024: 45,998 votes from 69,851 registered voters. England: 60%.
Majority 14,894 of 45,998 votes (32.4%): wider than in 88% of England’s 543 constituencies.
MPs and results: UK Parliament Members API (Open Parliament Licence v3.0); constituencies from ONS (2024 boundaries). Percentages are of valid votes; turnout is votes cast over the electorate.
Cothill’s Band D council tax is £2,537 a year
Where a Band D bill goes, what it has cost over the years, and what the councils plan to spend per resident.
Vale of White Horse District Council keeps £166.69 of a Band D bill (7%); the rest goes to the St Helen Without parish council, Oxfordshire County Council and the Thames Valley police and crime commissioner.
Band D since 1993
Vale of White Horse’s Band D bill has risen 58% in ten years, from £1,635.05 in 2016–17, against England’s average (56%). It was £510.75 in 1993–94.
Your bill by band
A Band D home in St Helen Without, 2026–27, before discounts. The Valuation Office Agency’s band search gives any home’s band.
Oxfordshire’s councils
Average Band D in each council area, 2026–27, parish precepts included. Bars start at £2,400.
Council budgets per resident, 2026–27
Show as a table, with Oxfordshire
| Vale of White Horse + Oxfordshire | Cothill’s councils | Oxfordshire | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult social care | £418 | £418 | £487 |
| Children’s social care | £259 | £259 | £290 |
| Roads and transport | £62 | £60 | £41 |
| Housing (not council homes’ rents) | £28 | £41 | £61 |
| Bins, street cleaning, environment | £136 | £132 | £119 |
| Libraries, leisure, culture | £33 | £41 | £44 |
| Planning and development | £31 | £35 | £26 |
| Public health | £55 | £55 | £78 |
| Running the council | £50 | £65 | £59 |
| Other | £0 | £13 | £19 |
| Total, schools apart | £1,116 | £1,162 | £1,234 |
Net budgeted service spending, MHCLG Revenue Account budget 2026–27, per resident (ONS mid-2025 estimates). Both tiers added: Vale of White Horse per its residents plus Oxfordshire per the county’s. Schools are left out: academies are paid for directly by government, so council school budgets depend on how many schools have converted. Oxfordshire and England: all their councils together. Police, fire and transport authorities aren’t included.
Band D: MHCLG Band D council tax 2026–27 (each authority’s own figure, excluding parish precepts) and Council Tax statistics for town and parish councils 2026–27; since 1993–94, MHCLG’s area averages including parishes.
Having a say in how Cothill is run
It takes about five minutes online; the deadline is 12 working days before a poll.
gov.uk ↗Type a postcode to write to each of its councillors and its MP.
WriteToThem ↗GOV.UK sends the report to the council that looks after the road.
gov.uk ↗Council and committee meetings are open to the public, with agendas and minutes online.
whitehorsedc.gov.uk ↗Anyone can comment while an application is open for consultation.
whitehorsedc.gov.uk ↗The rules, nomination papers and guidance for council candidates.
Electoral Commission ↗Questions about how Cothill is run
Which council runs Cothill?
Cothill is run by Vale of White Horse District Council and Oxfordshire County Council. The county council runs schools, social care and roads; the district runs bins, planning and housing.
Does Cothill have a town council?
Yes: Cothill has its own parish-tier council (St Helen Without parish council; town councils are parish councils by another name), which adds £65 to a Band D bill in 2026–27.
Who is the MP for Cothill?
Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat) is the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, which covers Cothill.
How many councillors does Cothill have?
1 ward councillors represent Cothill’s 1 ward, and 1 county councillors its county divisions.
When are the next elections in Cothill?
No election is scheduled yet in Democracy Club’s list for Cothill’s wards. The next UK general election must be held by August 2029.
How much is council tax in Cothill?
Band D council tax in Cothill is £2,537 for 2026–27. Your bill depends on your home’s band, from A (6/9 of Band D) to H (18/9).
Who controls Vale of White Horse District Council?
The Liberal Democrats have a majority: 34 of 38 seats as elected. The council’s website lists who leads it now.
Who won the 2023 council election in Cothill?
In Cothill’s wards on 4 May 2023, Liberal Democrat 1 of the 1 seats up. The Liberal Democrats had the largest share of votes, 45.4%.
Sources: ONS ward, county division, parish, constituency lookups (Census 2021 output areas; Open Government Licence v3.0) · GOV.UK local council finder · Democracy Club candidates (CC BY 4.0) and EveryElection · UK Parliament Members API (Open Parliament Licence v3.0) · MHCLG Band D council tax, parish precepts and Revenue Account budgets 2026–27 (OGL v3.0) · ONS mid-2025 population estimates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.