Agenda, decisions and minutes
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Contact: Sue Whitehead Tel: 07393 001213; E-Mail: sue.whitehead@oxfordshire.gov.uk
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Minutes: The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 January 2019 were approved and signed as a correct record, subject to the following correction (in bold italics) to the 4th sentence of paragraph 11 of the preamble to Minute 4/19: In relation to Oxford City, a number of proposals were being
looked at in relation to changes to manage congestion and the overriding
principles would be that any changes must be combined with benefits. |
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Questions from County Councillors Any
county councillor may, by giving notice to the Proper Officer by 9 am two
working days before the meeting, ask a question on any matter in respect of the
Cabinet’s delegated powers. The
number of questions which may be asked by any councillor at any one meeting is
limited to two (or one question with notice and a supplementary question at the
meeting) and the time for questions will be limited to 30 minutes in total. As
with questions at Council, any questions which remain unanswered at the end of
this item will receive a written response. Questions submitted prior to the agenda being despatched are shown below and will be the subject of a response from the appropriate Cabinet Member or such other councillor or officer as is determined by the Cabinet Member, and shall not be the subject of further debate at this meeting. Questions received after the despatch of the agenda, but before the deadline, will be shown on the Schedule of Addenda circulated at the meeting, together with any written response which is available at that time. Minutes: Councillor Howson had given
notice of the following question to Councillor Constance: “Has the county council any views on the idea of creating ‘Home
Zone’ streets as defined by the Department for Transport in their design guidelines?” “The Oxfordshire Street Design Guide, on which work is ongoing, will
seek to provide guidance on the design of developments from master planning
stage to detailed design. We envisage the guide will promote various types of
design which are appropriate for different street types. Therefore, we expect
to include guidance on the use of shared surfaces and space which may be more
appropriate for streets from which properties are directly accessed and are
lightly trafficked. Shared surfaces and space,
encourage motorists to give way to other users of the street and encourage the
use of the street for play and social interaction, which is what Home Zones
seek to achieve. The aim of the design guide is to help create successful
places where people want to live, work and play and to encourage walking,
cycling and use of public transport. We hope to undertake stakeholder
consultation over the summer months and conclude the project in autumn 2019.
“ Supplementary:
Councillor Howson highlighted a proposed development in his local area of a
hotel without parking provision and noted that schemes such as Home Zones would
enable areas to remain as communities. It was an additional tool in addition to
Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs). Councillor Constance thanked Councillor Howson
for the question and agreed that there were occasions when CPZs would be
appropriate and other times when Home Zones could be used. Councillor
Pressel had given notice of the following question to Councillor Hudspeth: “At our budget meeting, the
Leader quite rightly said that ‘we must target our resources to provide vital
services to those vulnerable adults and children who require them most’. In the
light of this, please can you tell us exactly what criteria will be used for
deciding how the new £1 million fund for youth services will be allocated? Can
we assume that the data from the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment will be used
to inform our decisions?” Councillor Hudspeth replied: “I was delighted to propose and vote for a budget
that was caring and compassionate as it: Increased the funding on Adult Social Care by £8.8
million Increased the funding on Children’s Social Care by
£9.0 million Increased the funding on Education by £3.0 million Provided £1 million for Youth provision across the
county. These measures will help the most vulnerable adults
and children across Oxfordshire. By contrast I noted that Cllr Pressel voted: AGAINST increasing the funding on Adult Social Care
by £8.8 million AGAINST increasing the funding on Children’s Social
Care by £9.0 million AGAINST increasing the funding on Education by £3.0
million AGAINST providing £1 million for Youth provision
across the county The criteria for allocating the £1 million for youth provision will ensure that all areas across the county will be able ... view the full minutes text for item 12/19 |
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Petitions and Public Address Minutes: The Leader had agreed the following requests to speak:
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Performance Scrutiny Highways Deep Dive Recommendations Cabinet Member: Environment Forward Plan Ref: 2018/202 Contact: Lauren Rushen, Policy Officer Tel: 07990 367851 Report by Deep Dive Lead Member (CA6). The condition of roads has a significant impact on levels of public satisfaction with the Council and their local area. As a result, the Performance Scrutiny Committee commissioned a deep dive into the factors affecting public perception and experience of highways and the Council’s approach to improving this. From July to November a small group of councillors worked with officers to identify opportunities for improving the condition of the road network, tackling congestion, better managing the impact of street works and adapting our approach to maintenance contracts and partnership working on highways. This report has been considered by the Performance Scrutiny Committee and is now presented to Cabinet for them to consider and respond to its recommendations. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
(a)
Consider the findings of the Performance
Scrutiny Committee’s deep dive into highways. (b)
Agree which of the following recommendations
the Cabinet will accept: (1)
Ensure there is councillor input into the
review of the Highways Asset Management Plan, and that this includes
consideration of flexibility for local prioritisation. (2)
Ask Cabinet to ensure there is a smarter
process for developing a programme of work to utilise the additional capital
investment in highways and that a robust capital governance process is in place
to help shape this and improve risk management. (3)
Ensure officers consider the impact on
public perception when developing a programme of work and improve opportunities
for councillors to influence this based on local priorities. (4)
Ask officers to work with SKANSKA to explore
a business case for greater levels of supervision that will ensure the quality
of work remains high, including a consideration of how in-house resources could
be utilised differently. (5)
Ensure that opportunities to utilise staff
in flexible ways are explored further with SKANSKA, so that the maximum benefit
of having staff on site can be realised. (6)
Encourage officers to explore more
innovative maintenance methods and tools. (7)
Ask Cabinet to ensure an effective approach
to publicly publishing and communicating the highways programme of work is in
place. (8)
Ask officers to develop a more robust
process for informing councillors of local road improvements in their division,
so that they can advise on works that need to be prioritised and support early
communication with residents. (9)
Ask officers to ensure all responses to
highways enquiries / reports through Fix My Street include a named officer
contact. (10)
Ensure direct points of contact are
communicated and established for key stakeholders (e.g. town and parish
councils) to ensure that local highway priorities can be followed up and dealt
with more efficiently. (11)
Support the Council’s ambition to become a
Permitting Authority and request a report on the expected impact of this in
mid-2019. (12) Support the development of a comprehensive out of hours traffic management provision to ensure effective management of the impact of major incidents and network failures ... view the full agenda text for item 14/19 Additional documents: Minutes: The condition of roads has a significant impact on levels of
public satisfaction with the Council and their local area. As a result, the
Performance Scrutiny Committee commissioned a deep dive into the factors affecting
public perception and experience of highways and the Council’s approach to
improving this. From July to November a small group of councillors worked with
officers to identify opportunities for improving the condition of the road
network, tackling congestion, better managing the impact of street works and
adapting our approach to maintenance contracts and partnership working on
highways. The report had been considered by the Performance Scrutiny Committee
and was presented to Cabinet for them to consider its recommendations. Councillor
Brighouse, Chairman of Performance Scrutiny Committee speaking in support of
the recommendations set out the reasons for the review and thanked the
councillors who had been part of the group. The Performance Scrutiny Committee
had considered and endorsed the recommendations. Councillor Jenny
Hannaby, lead member on the Working Group thanked officers for their work and
particularly Katie Read, Senior Policy and Performance Officer for bringing it
all together. Councillor Hannaby introduced the contents of the report
highlighting the significant themes that had led to the recommendations.
Communication had been a key element of their considerations, both to
councillors, parishes and the wider public. Enforcement was another key area
impacting on the public’s perception of highways and their satisfaction with
the service. The group were in favour of the Council becoming a permitting
authority. The group had identified the real funding issues and supported the
work to press for funding whenever possible.
The positive impact of dragon patchers was
recognised but there was a need to find a way to use them in urban areas. In
commending the recommendations Councillor Hannaby urged Cabinet to act to
achieve the quick wins within the recommendations. Councillor John
Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Environment and member of the Group
commented that the Group had been careful that their recommendations would save
or generate money or at the least be cost neutral. He did not think that there
was a need for special costing in the longer term. In supporting the
recommendations, he drew attention to the proposal that the Council become a
permitting authority. Councillor Sanders also highlighted the importance of
community engagement. Councillor Ian
Hudspeth, Leader of the Council, thanked Performance Scrutiny Committee for
bringing forward the recommendations for Cabinet to consider. Councillors would be aware that highways
issues were the biggest part of their mail box. Councillor Yvonne
Constance, Cabinet Member for Environment, thanked the Performance Scrutiny
Committee for taking the time to undertake the review. Councillor Constance
thanked Councillor Hannaby for the summary of recommendations and for drawing
out the key themes, that were reiterated in several recommendations: member and
community engagement, better communication and responses, supervision and
flexibility of staff/contracts and enforcement. There was an opportunity to
celebrate the good work being done whilst looking at what further was needed. Owen Jenkins, Director of Community Operations, ... view the full minutes text for item 14/19 |
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Staffing Report - Quarter 3 - 2018 Cabinet Member: Deputy Leader of the Council Forward Plan Ref: 2018/152 Contact: Sarah Currell, HR Manager – Business Systems Tel: 07867 467793 Report by Director of Human Resources (CA7). The
report gives an update on staffing numbers and related activity during the
period 1 October 2017 to 31 December 2017.
It gives details of the actual staffing numbers at 31 December 2017 in
terms of Full Time Equivalents. These
are shown by directorate in Appendix 1. In addition, the report provides
information on the cost of posts being covered by agency staff and an Agency
Trend analysis in Appendix 2. The
Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the report Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet
considered a report that gave an update on staffing numbers and related
activity during the period 1 October 2018 to 31 December 2018. It gave details of the actual staffing
numbers at 31 December 2018 in terms of Full Time Equivalents. In addition, the report provided information
on the cost of posts being covered by agency staff and an Agency Trend
analysis. Cabinet noted the correction to the agenda summary set out in the
addenda. Councillor Judith
Heathcoat, Deputy Leader of the Council, introduced the contents of the report
highlighting the changes made in response to queries and comments made
previously and noting that with transportation the report would continue to
develop. Councillor Heathcoat added that more detailed information was on the
website. In relation to agency staff Councillor Heathcoat commented that there
were legitimate reasons for using agency staff, such as, to provide continuity
of service when recruiting to vacancies to cover a time limited piece of work.
Councillor Heathcoat added that regarding all recruitment there were strict
controls in place to manage recruitment. Councillor
Heathcoat, responding to a question about the high use of catering and
hospitality agency staff in Quarter 1 compared with the rest of the year,
explained that this had been connected to Carillion and staff had become
employed. RESOLVED: to
note the report. |
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Forward Plan and Future Business Cabinet Member: All Contact Officer: Sue Whitehead, Committee Services
Manager Tel: 07393 001213 The Cabinet Procedure
Rules provide that the business of each
meeting at the Cabinet is to include “updating of the Forward Plan and
proposals for business to be conducted at the following meeting”. Items from the Forward Plan for the
immediately forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet appear in the Schedule at CA8. This includes any updated information
relating to the business for those meetings that has already been identified
for inclusion in the next Forward Plan
update. The
Schedule is for noting, but Cabinet Members
may also wish to take this opportunity to identify any further changes they
would wish to be incorporated in the next Forward Plan update. The
Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the items currently identified for
forthcoming meetings. Additional documents: Minutes: The Cabinet considered a list of items for the immediately
forthcoming meetings of the Cabinet together with changes and additions set out
in the schedule of addenda. RESOLVED: to note the items
currently identified for forthcoming meetings. |
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Tank Farm, Chipping Norton - Development Site Cabinet Member: Transformation Forward Plan Ref: 2019/001 Contact: Andrew Fairweather, Asset & Investment Team Manager Tel: 07825 790242/Karen Lister, Head of Estates & Strategy Tel: 07875 441940 Report by Director for Capital Investment & Delivery (CA10). The information contained in the annex is
exempt in that it falls within the following prescribed category: 3. Information relating to the financial
or business affairs of any particular person
(including the authority holding that information); and since it is considered that, in all the circumstances of the case,
the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest
in disclosing the information, in that disclosure would undermine the process
to the detriment of the Council’s ability properly to discharge its fiduciary
and other duties as a public authority. Approval was given on 21 December 2018 by The Leader of the Council with the agreement of the Director of Finance, to authorise the Strategic Director of Communities to negotiate, up to a specified maximum value, the purchase of Pearman’s land, being 13.32 ha (32.91 acres) adjoining the Council's land at Tank Farm, in order to ensure the County Council's control, influence and deliverability of the programmed capital receipt for Tank Farm. The negotiations are now complete and this report details the provisionally agree terms of acquisition. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to (b)
authorise the Director of Law & Governance in
conjunction with the Director of Capital Investment & Delivery and Director
of Finance to undertake appropriate due diligence and prepare the necessary
legal agreement on the terms referred to in Annex B. Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet discussion was held in public session without
detailed reference to the information contained on the annex, that remains
exempt. The information contained in the annex is exempt in that it falls within
the following prescribed category: 3. Information relating to the financial or
business affairs of any particular person (including
the authority holding that information); and since it is
considered that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in
maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information, in that disclosure would undermine the process to the detriment of
the Council’s ability properly to discharge its fiduciary and other duties as a
public authority. Approval was
given on 21 December 2018 by The Leader of the Council with the agreement of
the Director of Finance, to authorise the Strategic Director of Communities to
negotiate, up to a specified maximum value, the purchase of Pearman’s land,
being 13.32 ha (32.91 acres) adjoining the Council's land at Tank Farm, in order
to ensure the County Council's control, influence and deliverability of the
programmed capital receipt for Tank Farm. The negotiations
are now complete, and Cabinet considered a report that detailed the
provisionally agreed terms of acquisition. Councillor Eddie
Reeves, Cabinet Member for Transformation, introduced the contents of the
report and highlighted the benefits of the proposed recommendations. RESOLVED: to (b)
authorise the Director of Law & Governance in
conjunction with the Director of Capital Investment & Delivery and Director
of Finance to undertake appropriate due diligence and prepare the necessary
legal agreement on the terms referred to in Annex B. |