Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Bennett, Cllr Constance, Cllr Enright, and Cllr Fenton (substitute: Cllr Field-Johson).  It was confirmed that the meeting was quorate. 

Cllr Bennett attended remotely as a guest of the Committee, at the discretion of the Chair.

There were none.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13 September 2023                    (PLOSC3) and to receive information arising from them.

The Committee is recommended to AGREE the minutes having raised any necessary amendments.

The Committee resolved to AGREE the minutes of the meeting of 13 September 2023 as a true and accurate record.

Members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection. To facilitate ‘hybrid’ meetings we are asking that requests to speak are submitted by no later than 9.00 a.m. four working days before the meeting i.e., 9.00 a.m. on Thursday 30 November 2023. Requests to speak should be sent to scrutiny@oxfordshire.gov.uk   

If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that, if the technology fails, your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9.00 a.m. two working days before the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than one A4 sheet.

There were none.

The Chair advised that he had been asked to take item 6 on the Libraries and Heritage Strategy Update before item 5 and the Committee resolved to AGREE that the agenda would be amended accordingly.

Cabinet will, at its meeting on 19 December 2023, be considering a report on the Infrastructure Funding Statement 2022/23.

Cllr Judy Roberts, Cabinet member for Infrastructure and Development Strategy, and Bill Cotton, Corporate Director for Environment and Place, have been invited to present the report and to answer the Committee’s questions.

The Committee is recommended to consider the report, to ask any questions, and to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet arising from the report and discussion.

Cllr Judy Roberts, Cabinet member for Infrastructure and Development Strategy, attended to introduce the Infrastructure Funding Strategy IFS) which detailed the developer contributions secured, spent, or received during the previous financial year, 1 April 2022-31 March 2023.

Cllr Roberts was accompanied by Bill Cotton, Corporate Director for Environment and Place, Rachel Wileman, Director of Environment, Planning, and Climate Change, and Nicholas Perrins, Head of Strategic Planning, who attended to answer the Committee’s questions.

Cllr Roberts introduced the report by outlining the purpose of the Infrastructure Funding Statement, which was to satisfy a central government requirement that the Council report on its activities around Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and s.106-derived infrastructure spending over the previous financial year.

The Director of Environment, Planning, and Climate Change provided further detail. In 2022/23 the Council had secured 68 new planning obligations for developer contributions worth £124m. Of that, £28.2m had been spent in-year, the overwhelming majority on education and transport. A total of £62.3m of contributions were received in 2022/23 but the Committee was concerned to note that only 45% of this amount, namely £28.2m, was spent. In total, including monies received in 2022/23, the Council was holding £276m for the purposes of future projects, and had secured (though not received) additional funding of £291m. Of the money held, £97.7m had been allocated to projects which were either in the capital programme or had a business case.

In-year education spending, £18.4m across 31 projects, was aimed at adding additional pupil places to support new development. Transport spending, £6.7m over 50 different projects had tended to relate to active travel, bus travel or junction improvements. Eight libraries had received upgrades or refurbishments at a cost of £351k.

Assessing future priorities for infrastructure funding made reference to a number of factors, including statutory requirements, Local Plans, County Council policies such as the Local Transport and Connectivity Plans and service plans, externally-held policies such as the Future Oxfordshire Partnership’s Oxfordshire Infrastructure Strategy, and the feedback from Localities meetings.

Key future priorities included:

i)               future school expansions;

ii)              active and sustainable traffic projects to reduce traffic levels;

iii)            tackling congestion, improving air quality and making bus journeys quicker;

iv)            providing new household waste recycling facilities;

v)             specialist housing, such as for adult social care;

vi)            resourcing fire and rescue services;

vii)           developing community hubs.

It was clear that the Council was effective at collecting developer contributions to pay for infrastructure crucial to the Council’s functions. A significant sum was being held (£276m) of which 35% was earmarked for spending. A corporate project was underway to review how s.106 monies could be used to support the capital programme and ensure faster delivery of projects which would benefit local communities.

In response to the presentation, the Committee discussed multiple issues which included:

·       The profile of capital expenditure necessary to achieve the Council’s transport ambitions as set out in the Local Transport Connectivity Plan;

·       The flexibilities, barriers and constraints around expenditure of s. 106 monies;

·       The capacity, communication and integration of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15/23

Having considered the strategy in November 2021, the Committee requested an update on the Libraries and Heritage Strategy.

Cllr Neil Fawcett, Cabinet member for Corporate Services, Mark Haynes, Director of Customers and Culture, and Mark McCree, Service Manager: Libraries and Heritage, have been invited to present the report and to answer the Committee’s questions.

The Committee is recommended to consider the report, to ask any questions, and to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet arising from the report and discussion.

Cllr Neil Fawcett, Cabinet member for Corporate Services, gave a brief introduction to the report which sought to update the Committee on the outworking of the Libraries and Heritage Strategy since it was launched in June 2022.  Cllr Fawcett commended the work of the Director of Customer Experience, Cultural, and Property Services, Mark Haynes, (the Director) and that of the Service Manager: Libraries and Heritage, Mark McCree, (the Service Manager) who attended alongside him.

The Director explained that the Strategy was now very well-established and that it continued to evolve and develop.  Libraries were about far more than simply borrowing books and it was important for the Council to respond to the needs of the community.

The Service Manager gave an extensive but succinct overview of the report and its annexes.  The main report set out for the Committee the planning and performance framework that was established prior to the launch of the strategy and which had been subsequently implemented over the last 18 months.  The implementation of these were demonstrated in the annexes to the report.  He explained to the Committee that he had been determined that the strategy would not ‘gather dust’ but rather had provided quarterly updates measuring achievements against the service plan.  The Committee’s attention was drawn to the infographic at annexe 9 setting out how Cultural Services had benefit the people of Oxfordshire in 2022/23.  Amongst that it was noted that there had been 1.6m visitors to Oxfordshire libraries with over 800 activities run, attended by 133k people.

The Service Manager assured the Committee that there was a constant and consistent commitment to further improvements for the benefit of residents in accordance with the Council’s priorities.

The Committee were grateful for the clarity of the report and for its presentation.  The infographic in annexe 9 was commended as a particularly excellent example of good practice which should be shared with colleagues more widely as it set out so clearly and so easily the service’s data.

In discussion with members, the following were raised:

·       That the Council had partnered with the Library of Things but that there was no intention for the Council to run one itself;

·       There were Digital Champions who supported those who struggled with ICT to use such in libraries and the staff and volunteers in libraries were commended for their helpfulness by members of the Committee;

·       The Committee was advised that 11000 validations for bus passes had been supported in libraries last year and that the library populations tended to mirror background demographics with those in the greatest need tending to navigate to the library; the Libraries Services had reached out to partners and had worked with those supporting homeless people and local colleges; greater awareness of the support libraries could offer was to be encouraged;

·       It was noted that there are many services to support vulnerable users but what would be most helpful would be a single point of access triage service which could support people to access all the services  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16/23

Members of the Committee met informally on 15 November 2023 for a briefing on the Street Design Guide to which all members were invited.  This was to feed into the work of the Transport Working Group.  The Scrutiny Officer has provide a brief report which the Committee is recommended to NOTE.

The Scrutiny Officer had circulated a report of the meeting on 15 November 2023 when members of the Committee had met informally for a briefing on the Street Design Guide to which all members had been invited.

This meeting was to feed into the work of the Transport Working Group.

An informal meeting was scheduled for members of the Working Group with the Corporate Director and the Head of Transport.

The action and recommendation tracker is used to monitor the implementation of previously-agreed actions and recommendations. The Committee is recommended to NOTE it, having raised any questions on the contents.

The Committee was advised that an updated Action and Recommendation Tracker would be provided.

The Committee is asked to consider the proposed work programme.  In deciding its work programme, the Committee is also asked to consider the relevance of any items on the Cabinet’s Forward Plan.

The Committee is recommended to AGREE its work programme.

The Committee requested the opportunity to consider in-depth its ongoing work programme and was advised that the Scrutiny Officer would seek to organise that.

The Committee submitted a report to Cabinet on 19 September 2023 submitting its recommendations regarding the OUFC item considered on 13 September 2023 which is attached.

Cabinet responded at its meeting on 21 November 2023.

The Committee is recommended to NOTE the response.

The Committee resolved to NOTE Cabinet’s response to its recommendations from 13 September 2023 relating to Oxford United Football Club.