[3] The shadow authority elected in 1973 to oversee the transition requested a change of name to "South Oxfordshire", which was approved by the government before the new district formally came into being in 1974.
50% of the district's population lives outside its four main towns of Didcot, Henley-on-Thames, Thame and Wallingford.
[26] The council was initially based in various premises across the district in Henley, Thame, Wheatley, Wallingford and Didcot inherited from its predecessor authorities.
[27] In 1981 the council moved to a purpose-built headquarters on Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, near Wallingford.
[28] On 15 January 2015, an arson attack destroyed the district council's main offices in Crowmarsh Gifford.
[30] Immediately after the fire, the council was temporarily based in Abingdon, in the neighbouring Vale of White Horse district.
[34] In 2022 the councils vacated Milton Park and returned to Abingdon, again on a temporary basis, whilst waiting for the Didcot Gateway scheme to be ready.
[35] In terms of television, the area is served by BBC South and ITV Meridian broadcast from the Oxford transmitter.