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To All Members of the County Council

Notice of a Meeting of the Council

Tuesday 1 November 2005 at 10.00 am

County Hall, Oxford

Derek Bishop
Head of Democratic Services

21 October 2005

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

AGENDA

1. Minutes

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 13 September 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.

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
10*	Draft South East Plan - Housing Distribution	The Council is invited to consider what, if any, advice to forward to the Cabinet.

* PLEASE BRING YOUR COPY OF THE REPORT (CA7) CIRCULATED WITH THE AGENDA FOR THE MEETING OF THE CABINET ON 6 SEPTEMBER

9. Questions with Notice from Members of the Council

Motions with Notice from Members of the Council

10. Motion from Councillor Bob Johnston

"All the evidence points to levels of traffic in the County continuing to increase. This poses an increased risk to pedestrians in general and people with buggies and wheelchairs using pavements which are narrow (less than 1m width). The Council therefore asks the Cabinet to request the Director of Environment and Economy to ask highway inspectors, with input from local members and parish councils, to draw up a list of substandard pavements as a first step, then to allocate a budget to address the problem."

11. Motion from Councillor Alan Armitage

"This Council welcomes the postponement of the revaluation of properties for Council Tax purposes, and hopes that central government will use the time made available to identify a system of local government financing which better reflects people's ability to pay.

The Leader of the Council is asked to write to Sir Michael Lyons's inquiry to put this view on behalf of the Council."

12. Motion from Councillor Liz Brighouse

"This Council opposes the proposal of the Thames Valley Health Authority to contract out the management of Health Services in Oxfordshire, even as a pilot. The Council accepts the need to establish a single effective Countywide Primary Care Trust and thus stop the fragmentation and inefficiencies which have occurred with five such bodies.

It therefore resolves, in the first instance, to write to the Department of Health and Oxfordshire MPs to put this position."

13. Motion from Councillor George Reynolds

"This Council agrees to restrict the number of words contained in motions to Council, including any explanatory paragraphs, to a maximum of 250."

14. Motion from Councillor Chris Wise

"The single Equality Act puts disability legislation on a par with race and sex discrimination. This legislation calls for improved access for people with disabilities to public buildings. The issue is to promote mobility and access in the community.

At the last election, Scope reported that nationally potentially 68% of polling stations were not fully accessible. This must be tackled because political participation is key to successful policies and action. The voices of disabled people must not be ignored by society. This Council requests the Chief Executive to report to the Democracy & Organisation Committee on how many polling stations in Oxfordshire at the last County Election were inaccessible, and asks her to work with District Councils to ensure that action is taken to find alternatives to any which are identified as having not been fully accessible for people with disabilities."

15. Motion from Councillor Zoë Patrick

"In view of the housing consultation naming the south of the County, with Grove and Wantage as one of the options for further growth, this Council believes that good public transport must be available to residents so that they are able to travel without relying solely on the private car.

The Council therefore asks the Cabinet to ensure that:

(a) the Premium Routes network provides an increased frequency of the X31/31 service from Wantage to Oxford and Abingdon before any new housing is occupied;

(b) services from Grove and Wantage to the Milton Park and Harwell employment sites are also substantially improved."

16. Motion from Councillor Craig Simmons

"This Council notes that the revised Energy Management Policy adopted by the Executive in April 2005 recognises the importance of renewable energy (microgeneration) both in relation to the management of its own properties and in setting an example to other organisations of good energy management practice.

This Council also notes that it is a signatory to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change which - amongst other things - recognises the role of local government in delivering a national programme of action to limit climate changes through measures such as the promotion of energy efficient technologies and renewable power generation.

This Council:

(a) recognises that microgeneration (that is the generation of energy by householders installing renewable energy systems in their own homes) is a valuable new approach to engaging people as consumers and citizens in the important issues of climate change and reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

(b) therefore, welcomes the introduction of the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill and the Management of Energy In Buildings Bill into Parliament by a cross party group of MPs on 22nd June, noting that together these Bills will:

1. require the Prime Minister to report annually to Parliament on the level of greenhouse gas emissions;
2. require the Chancellor of the Exchequer to implement a fiscal strategy to assist with microgeneration and energy efficiency;
3. require the Government to set national targets for microgeneration and enable local authorities to set such targets if they deem it appropriate;
4. extend permitted development status to the installation of microgeneration subject to the specifying of safeguards relating to visual and noise effects;
5. require utility companies to purchase at a reasonable rate any surplus energy generated by householders via microgeneration;
6. require future revisions of Building Regulations to take into account the desirability of promoting microgeneration and of introducing an energy generating rating system in new buildings;
7. enable householders who generate electricity by microgeneration to have access to ‘renewables obligation certificates’; and
8. establish a ‘renewable heat obligation’ which requires utility companies to purchase a percentage of the heat that they then sell to their customers from renewable sources.



Council therefore

(a) supports the Bills and resolves to inform the Government of the Council’s view;
(b) urges the Government to support the Bills;
(c)urges local MPs to be present in Parliament to back these Bills when they are debated in the House of Commons in November;
(d) urges local MPs to sign House of Commons Early Day Motion No 391 in support of these Bills;
(e) resolves to inform the local media and the Micropower Council of the passing of this resolution."


17. Motion from Councillor Craig Simmons

• enable local authorities and local citizens to choose the system by which local councils are elected; and
• enable all voters to choose how we elect our Government and the composition of our ‘second chamber’ (the House of Lords).

1. the County’s Members of Parliament asking them to back these new Bills;
2. the City and Districts in Oxfordshire informing them of the County’s support for these Bills and asking them to consider giving their backing."

18. Motion from Councillor Janet Godden

"Council notes the Audit Commission’s comments that while the Supporting People programme has improved services for vulnerable people it has been undermined by a lack of co-ordination within central government, and that funding uncertainty is the programme’s biggest barrier to progress. Council is grateful for the wide support given by its partners, including the 6 County MPs, to its protests against reductions, both made and threatened, to Oxfordshire’s Supporting People grant.

Council notes that if the 5% cut (approx £1m) in the county’s Supporting People grant announced for 2006-07 is implemented, on top of the 7% cut imposed in the current year, the support packages of many people dependent on this funding would be significantly reduced. The Council's next meeting in February will be too late to consider this issue.

Council therefore:

(i) agrees that while deploring the situation in which the Supporting People partnership has been placed by the Government, the partnership has no option but to take what action it can to keep in place the agreed support packages of those who are dependent on Supporting People funding.

(ii) urges the Cabinet - in the event of the announced cut of 5% of the Supporting People grant for 2006-07 being implemented - to do all it can to identify at least some of that money in the 2006-07 budget.

(iii) requests the portfolio holder for Health & Community Services to write to the leaders of the City and district councils asking them similarly - should the need arise - to identify some funding for Supporting People in their 2006-07 budgets.

(iv) requests the Cabinet, through the continued support of its partners and the County's MPs, to take every step to ensure that any changes to the national Supporting People formula, or any successor arrangements, are fairly applied pro rata and take account of rural as well as urban deprivation."

19. Motion from Councillor Larry Sanders

"This Council notes the results of a YouGov poll earlier this year which stated that an overwhelming 89% of the public agree that "public services should be run by the Government or local authorities rather than by public companies".

This Council asks the Secretary of State for Health to reject the option suggested by the Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority that would permit the appointment of a private sector corporation to provide the management services for the proposed Oxfordshire PCT. If people with particular skills are required they can be hired. A private company in charge of the commissioning of health services for the people of Oxfordshire is a further large step in removing control from the public and placing it in the hands of a profit driven organisation.

This Council wholeheartedly condemns this new phase in the Labour Government’s step-by-step movement towards the privatisation of the NHS which is creating huge profit centres for investors at the expense of the health needs of the people of this County and of its taxpayers.

This Council therefore agrees to write to the:

County’s MPs
Chairs of the County’s District and City Councils
Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority
County’s PCTs
Secretary of State for Health

expressing our opposition to the appointment of a private sector organisation to provide the management services for the proposed Oxfordshire PCT and asking them to do the same."

20. Motion from Councillor John Farrow

"Council notes with deep regret the Government's decision to create a single regional fire control room for the whole of the South East at Fareham, Hampshire, which will result in the closure of our own excellent fire control room at Kidlington.

Given that there is currently only an outline business case provided by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Council requests the closest monitoring of the consequences of the change when it occurs both in terms of emergency response rates and costs to Oxfordshire taxpayers, with reports made to the Cabinet."

21. Motion from Councillor Kieron Mallon