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To All Members of the County Council

Notice of a Meeting of the Council

Tuesday 13 September 2005 at 10.00 am

County Hall, Oxford

Derek Bishop
Head of Democratic Services

2 September 2005

Contact officer: Marion Holyman (Tel: 01865 810177; E-mail)

AGENDA

1. Minutes

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2005 (CC1) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.

2. Apologies for Absence
3. 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. For information, a list of councillors, who are also members of an Oxfordshire district council, is included at the end of the agenda (download as .doc file).

4. Official Communications
5. Appointments

To make any changes in membership of the Cabinet, scrutiny and other committees on the nomination of political groups.

The Council is RECOMMENDED to agree the following changes: Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee Current Member Proposed Member Councillor Nicholas P Turner Councillor Hilary Hibbert-Biles Health & Community Services Scrutiny Committee Current Member Proposed Member Councillor Hilary Hibbert-Biles Councillor Nicholas P Turner

6. Petitions and Public Address
7. Questions with Notice from Members of the Public
8. Report of the Cabinet (CC8)

Item	Heading	Recommendations to Council
5	Treasury Management Outturn 2004/05	The Cabinet is therefore being asked to RECOMMEND the Council to approve: a. an increase in the authorised limit for external debt to £402.853m for 2005/6; b. an increase in the operational limit for external debt to £392.853m for 2005/6; c. an increase in the fixed interest net borrowing upper rate exposure limit to 150%; as shown in Annex 1 to the report (download as .doc file).
13	Youth Justice Plan	The Council is RECOMMENDED to approve the Youth Justice Plan.
*15	Oxfordshire Structure Plan	The Cabinet is being asked, subject to consideration of any comments on behalf of the Environment & Economy Scrutiny Committee, to RECOMMEND the Council to: (a) agree, in the light of the conclusions of the report, that the EIP should not be re-opened and that no further modifications to the draft Oxfordshire Structure Plan 2016 should be proposed; (b) agree the proposed statement of decisions and reasons in respect of representations made on the proposed modifications to the deposit draft Structure Plan set out in Annex 1 to the report to the Cabinet; (c) adopt the Oxfordshire Structure Plan 2016 as proposed to be modified; (d) agree the revisions proposed to the explanatory memorandum in Annex 2 to the report to the Cabinet, subject to any minor editing changes to the explanatory memorandum determined prior to publication by the Head of Sustainable Development following consultation with the Cabinet Members for Sustainable Development and Transport, including any required as a consequence of comments made by GOSE on the proposed monitoring framework and text relating to post 2016.

9. Scrutiny Co-ordinating Group - Membership

The Head of Democratic Services reports that the political groups have requested a change to the membership of the Scrutiny Co-ordinating Group as follows:

The Scrutiny Co-ordinating Group currently comprises the Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of the five Council Scrutiny Committees and the Chairman of the Oxfordshire Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee. As a consequence of the changes which the Council made to the Constitution in May 2005 and subsequent decisions, that Group now contains members from only one political group. As membership on the scrutiny committees is required to be politically proportional, Political Group Leaders consider that there should be representation on the Co-ordinating Group from the other political groups. It is therefore proposed that the membership of that group be increased by 5 and the places allocated on a politically proportional basis to those political groups not forming the administration. This would give 3 Liberal Democrat Group, 1 Labour Group and 1 Green Group places. The members appointed by those groups should be members of one of the 5 Council Scrutiny Committees.

The Council is RECOMMENDED to amend paragraph 5 of Section F of the Constitution (Scrutiny Committees) by inserting the words "and 5 other places allocated on a politically proportionate basis to those political groups not forming the administration, the members from those groups to be drawn from any of the Scrutiny Committees in paragraph 1….".

10. Questions with Notice from Members of the Council

Motions with Notice from Members of the Council

11. Motion from Councillor Alan Armitage

"This Council believes that the introduction of Compulsory Identity Cards would violate traditional British liberties unacceptably, and compromise the rights of British citizens to live lawfully in this society free from arbitrary harassment by agents of the state and other bodies. The claimed advantages of Compulsory Identity Cards in fighting terrorism, identity theft and benefit fraud, are unlikely to be achieved, and the financial costs are likely to exceed any possible administrative gain. From experiences in other countries, it is clear that racial harmony and tolerance of minorities suffer following the introduction of Compulsory Identity Cards. It is also likely that a substantial number of people in Oxfordshire will refuse to obtain Identity Cards, even if the carrying of them is declared compulsory by Parliament.

Council therefore resolves to urge the Cabinet to ensure that recipients of services supplied by the Council are not required to produce a National Identity Card as a condition of receiving any of these services, except where laws may be introduced to force the use of National Identity Cards in specific circumstances."

12. Motion from Councillor Jean Fooks

"Oxfordshire County Council has a statutory duty "to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highways for which they are the highway authority" (ie virtually all roads and footways in Oxfordshire). Where hedges, shrubs and trees obstruct the highway the Council can require the owner and occupier of the adjoining land to have them trimmed back. It is particularly important for pedestrians with visual impairment that branches do not overhang the footway. Where there is no footway, pedestrians and cyclists must not be forced away from the edge by overgrown vegetation.

Council notes that at present the County Council has insufficient staff to check for obstructions or to remind householders that if they do not trim their hedges, they may be asked to pay the Council to do the work in lieu. This is putting pedestrians at risk.

Council therefore requests the Cabinet to ensure that the Director for Environment & Economy designates staff to this work, while encouraging co-operative work with District and Parish Councils and with local communities.

Council believes that good customer service would require that action would be taken to initiate action on any obstructing vegetation within 7 days once it has been reported. It requests the Cabinet to set this as the standard."

13. Motion from Councillor Jean Fooks

"Council notes that in trying to meet the PSA target on bus use, and on meeting our LTP objectives, it is of prime importance to increase bus patronage. It is also of great concern to everyone in the County, particularly staff and visitors, to be able to reach the hospitals in Headington conveniently, by bus if possible.

Council further notes that the Cabinet has proposed to offer free parking in Oxford in the evenings and on Sundays. This will result in lost revenue to the County Council of some £580,000 per annum.

At present there is a surplus in the on-street parking account which can be spent on other transport-related measures, including bus services, if no more off-street parking is needed.

Council asks the Cabinet to use some of this surplus to provide the pump priming needed for a 20-minute bus service from Kidlington to Headington, via Water Eaton P&R and Summertown, which is likely to be in the region of £300,000 at most. This would be attractive to passengers and help to reduce congestion in Oxford, further improving bus reliability and hence popularity.

As the removal of evening and Sunday parking charges in Oxford will substantially reduce the surplus in the account in future years, Council asks the Cabinet to abandon its proposal to provide free parking in Oxford."

14. Motion from Councillor Tony Crabbe

"Residents in Oxfordshire, and elsewhere nationally, are receiving large numbers of computer generated telephone calls which are silent when answered. These calls are an annoyance to the majority of recipients but can be very distressing to some elderly people. This is a unnecessary and deplorable practice. In order to prevent further distress to the elderly population of Oxfordshire, this Council calls on the Government to take appropriate action to eliminate this problem and requests the Leader to write to the relevant minister asking for this to be given early consideration."

15. Motion from Councillor Kieron Mallon

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