To All Members of the County Council
Notice of a Meeting of the Council
Tuesday 1 April 2008 at 10.00 am
County Hall, Oxford
Joanna Simons Chief
Executive
Contact officer: Marion Holyman (Tel: 01865 810177; E-mail: marion.holyman@oxfordshire.gov.uk)
In order to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, notice is given that Items 5, 9 and 13 will be recorded. The purpose of recording proceedings is to provide an aide-memoire to assist the clerk of the meeting in the drafting of minutes.
AGENDA
(Schedule of Business - download as .doc file) (Schedule of Business - Annex 1 - download as .doc file) (Schedule of Business - Annex 2 - download as .doc file) (Schedule of Business - Annex 3 - download as .doc file)
1. Election to Chairman for the 2008/09 Council Year
2. Election to Vice-Chairman for the 2008/09 Council Year
3. Minutes
To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2008 (CC3) (download as .doc file) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.
4. Apologies for Absence
5. Declarations of Interest – see guidance note
Members are reminded that they must declare their interests orally at the meeting and specify (a) the nature of the interest and (b) which items on the agenda are the relevant items. This applies also to items where members have interests by virtue of their membership of a district council in Oxfordshire.
6. Official Communications
(a) To receive the following report from the County Returning Officer on the outcome of the by-elections for Grove & Wantage and Wallingford divisions held on 13 March 2008:
Voting was as follows:
Grove & Wantage Division Jenny Hannaby 1901 votes Bill Melotti 1786 votes Jean Nunn-Price 382 votes
Jenny Hannaby was accordingly elected county councillor for the Grove & Wantage division.
Wallingford Division Lynda Susan Atkins 867 votes Patricia Anne Dawe 386 votes Charles Peter Noel Gill 69 votes
Lynda Susan Atkins was accordingly elected county councillor for the Wallingford division.
(b) Any other official communications.
7. Appointments
(a) Leader, Deputy Leader and Cabinet
The Council is required at its annual meeting to elect the Leader and Deputy Leader and to appoint the Cabinet. The current membership of the Cabinet is:
(b) Committees and Review of Political Balance
Report by the Assistant Head of Legal & Democratic Services (CC7(b))
(c) Pension Fund Committee
On the nomination of the Oxfordshire Leaders’ Group, to appoint West Oxfordshire District Councillor Richard Langridge of 5 Hoyle Close, Witney, Oxon OX28 1JD to the vacancy for a District Council representative on the Pension Fund Committee.
8. Petitions and Public Address
9. Questions with Notice from Members of the Public
10. Report of the Cabinet (CC10)
11. Annual Report of the Audit Committee (CC11) (download as .doc file)
The Council is RECOMMENDED to receive the report.
12. Annual Report of the Standards Committee (CC12) (download as .doc file)
The Council is RECOMMENDED to receive the report.
13. Questions with Notice from Members of the Council
Motions with Notice from Members of the Council
WOULD MEMBERS PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY AMENDMENTS TO MOTIONS WITH NOTICE MUST BE PRESENTED TO THE PROPER OFFICER IN WRITING BY 9.00 AM ON MONDAY 31 MARCH 2008
14. Motion from Councillor Melinda Tilley
“This Council calls on government to listen carefully to Oxfordshire’s schools when they ask for less bureaucracy and fewer government circulars, fewer centrally-imposed targets, more flexibility in setting their own curricula and more certainty over their long-term financial assets. It calls on the Leader of the Council to convey to the Secretary of State our belief that Oxfordshire’s schools would be better served by action which
- Gives parents and teachers locally more say in the way schools are run; - Improves discipline and behaviour in schools, shifting the balance of power in every classroom back in favour of the teacher; - Gets every child who is capable of doing so reading by the age of six, so that every minute in the classroom thereafter is productive; - Reforms the testing regime in primary schools to reduce bureaucracy and focus on every pupil’s real needs; - Delivers more teaching by ability which stretches the strongest and nurtures the weakest; - Reforms the schools’ inspection procedure to ensure there is tougher, more effective and more searching scrutiny of under-performance; - Champions excellence in the state sector; - Ensures funding for deprivation goes direct to the pupils most in need rather than being diverted by bureaucracies; - Diverts more resources to pupils who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, ensuring they get the earliest possible opportunity to choose the best schools and enjoy the best teaching.”
15. Motion from Councillor Iain Brown
"Oxfordshire is at the western end of an arc of development that stretches from Harwell to Cambridge. The Oxford-Cambridge 'arc' will become a vital economic corridor and see an increase in the resident population in the coming years. In order to optimise the benefits this will bring, this Council calls on the Leader and the Cabinet to: (a) support regular, fast train services between Oxford, Bicester and Milton Keynes as the first stage of eventually extending train services to Bedford and Cambridge; (b) write to the East of England Regional Assembly asking them to reconsider their lack of support for an east-west rail link from Cambridge and Bedford; (c) ensure that transport and spatial planning policies in Oxfordshire include support for delivering and funding an east-west rail link that will benefit residents of the county.”
16. Motion from Councillor R Smith
“Council notes that:
(a) the Drinking Water Inspectorate ensures that water supplied by Thames Water is of high quality;
(b) transporting bottled water increases carbon emissions and creates billions of glass and plastic bottles, which then require recycling or end up in landfill; and
(c) tap water can be easily filtered, chilled and put into reusable containers, thus reducing waste, saving money and cutting carbon emissions.
Council resolves to ask the Cabinet to consider:
(a) stopping purchasing bottled water for council offices and council meetings;
(b) providing chilled, filtered tap water as an alternative, and, where practical and financially viable; and (c) replacing any bottled water coolers with water fountains or supply filtered water coolers which can be refilled with tap water.”
17. Motion from Councillor Zoé Patrick
“Council notes the integrated train and bus tickets promoted by the rail industry in Oxfordshire and commends this initiative. Council also notes that a limited multi-operator bus ticket already exists in the Oxford area (Plus Pass) and notes that other local authority areas have created multi-operator ticketing schemes to include most bus operators, with major benefits for local residents wanting to make journeys requiring the use of more than one operator’s buses.
Council believes that the residents of Oxfordshire would greatly benefit from a similar scheme operating here, and therefore requests the Cabinet to require Officers to establish a trial area (outside Oxford) for the creation of a multi-operator ticketing facility, based on existing technology.
Council requests that this trial scheme be promoted and monitored, with the intention that the benefits of this scheme be extended to the remainder of the County in due course, and that the technology required to support such a County-wide scheme be fully investigated.”
18. Motion from Councillor Barbara Gatehouse
"This Council welcomes the support from John Goddard, Liberal Democrat leader of Oxford City Council, for a review of the Green Belt around Oxford.”
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