The leader of Oxfordshire County Council is the fifth most influential councillor in the country according to a poll published by the Municipal Journal. More about Councillor Mitchell
Councillor Keith Mitchell was elected leader of Oxfordshire County Council in 2001 and represents the Adderbury, Bloxham, Bodicote, Milcombe and Milton areas of north Oxfordshire at County Hall. He was awarded the CBE for services to local government in 2007.
He is also Chairman of the South East England Regional Assembly and the English Regions Network, representing the eight English regions and London. He gave up his business interests in 1990 to enter public life.
Simon Milton, the Chairman of the Local Government Association and Leader of Westminster City Council, was judged to be the most influential councillor, Richard Leese, the Leader of Manchester City Council was in second place, Paul Bettison, the Leader of Bracknell Forest Council was third and in fourth place was Stephen Houghton, the leader of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council. There are around 20,000 councillors at county, district and unitary councils in the country.
Keep putting our case
Councillor Mitchell said: “I am glad that this poll was about influence and not fame. If I have built up influence I hope I use that effectively to put Oxfordshire’s case on the biggest political stages.
“Given the current debates about housing numbers, eco-towns and the way that Oxfordshire and the South East seem generally to get the rough end of the stick as regards Government funding, it is important that I am in a strong position to keep putting our county’s case to the great and good at Westminster.”