A BID to take control of £4bn of spending for transport schemes and health and social care has been submitted to the Government by Oxfordshire’s political leaders.

The devolution proposal asks for the county to retain £69m a year in business rates from 2017 to 2020, with local retention of stamp duty on all new homes and commercial buildings following – worth £324m over 15 years.

These pots of cash would be used to jump-start improvements to roads and public transport, along with £400m of funding that could come from the Government, and councils hope it could lead to £6bn of investment over the next 15 years.

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The bid also contains a commitment by 2020 to enable the building of 23,000 new homes in the county and plans to closely integrate health and social care to boost prevention services and help reduce the numbers of people that need hospital care.

It is set to be considered by Whitehall after four months of negotiations behind-the-scenes between the county’s six biggest councils and civil servants.

The Government is then expected to respond, possibly with an offer of a devolution deal.

Oxfordshire’s councils have said any new spending powers would be exercised by a combined authority, which would be set up following a governance review.