ITEM CA3CABINET – 6 SEPTEMBER 2005Minutes of
the Meeting commencing at 2.00 pm and finishing at 5.14 pm Present: Voting
Members: Other Members in Attendance Councillor
Anne Purse – (for Agenda Items 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 & 11)
Councillor
Terry Joslin (for Agenda Items 7 & 10) Officers: Whole of meeting: J. Leverton and M. Bayliss (Chief Executive’s Office). Part of meeting: D. Bishop, P. Edwards, A. Sell (Chief Executive’s Office); C. Cousins, P. Day, J. Disley, R. Dix, T. Dow, A. Pau, F. Upton (Environment & Economy); G. Hales, R. Munro (Learning & Culture); R. Aitken, N Monaghan, M. Petty (Resources). The Cabinet considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting, together with a schedule of addenda tabled at the meeting, and decided as set out below. Except insofar as otherwise specified, the reasons for the decisions are contained in the agenda, reports and schedule, copies of which are attached to the signed Minutes.
167/05. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Item 6 – Oxfordshire Structure Plan Councillor Seale and Councillor Shouler respectively advised the meeting that they would not participate in consideration of the representations concerning the future of the former USAF base at Upper Heyford on the basis that they had previously made statements on that issue that might be interpreted as prejudging the question before the Cabinet. Item 6 – Oxfordshire Structure Plan Item 9 – Oxfordshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework Councillor Howell declared a prejudicial interest on the basis of his involvement in lobby groups who had campaigned against proposals for land allocations for housing at Grenoble Road, Oxford and for mineral working in the Stadhampton-Berinsfield-Warborough-Benson area. Item 7 – Draft South East Plan – Housing Distribution Councillor Mitchell declared a personal interest on the basis of his position as Chairman of the South East England Regional Assembly.
168/05. MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 19 July were approved and signed.
169/05. PETITIONS AND PUBLIC ADDRESS
The following requests to address the meeting had been agreed:-
170/05. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: PROGRESS AGAINST PRIORITIES AND TARGETS
(Agenda Item 5) The Cabinet considered a report (CA5) which set out the Council’s performance for the first quarter of 2005/06. Councillor Purse expressed concern that the Cabinet were not on track with one of the PSA Waste Management targets and asked how this was being addressed. Councillor Belson agreed to provide a written response to her question. RESOLVED: to note the report.
171/05. OXFORDSHIRE STRUCTURE PLAN
(Agenda Item 6) Councillors Howell, Seale and Shouler left the meeting for the duration of this item. The Cabinet considered a report (CA6) on the Oxfordshire Structure Plan 2016. Councillor Purse referred to the concerns with regard to waste water treatment capacity at Bicester identified by the Environment & Economy Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Westwood requested that the Cabinet defer any decision on the designation of Grove as a strategic housing site as she considered that incomplete information had been given to the examination in public and councillors on issues affecting the Grove Airfield site, including agricultural land quality, removal of wetland and flood risk and there had been inadequate assessment of alternative sites. Mr Summers expressed similar concerns, specifically about the issue of flood risk. Mrs Upton reported that the Environment Agency had advised the Vale of White Horse local plan inquiry on potential flooding issues at Grove but had not objected to the designation of land there for development, subject to detailed assessment in connection with specific development proposals and implementation of any measures identified as a result. She also reported further detailed comments from English Heritage. Councillor Belson, commending the report and recommendations, referred to the representations by the Oxford Trust for Contemporary History in relation to Policy H2 and the conservation of the former USAF base at Upper Heyford. He made a statement in the light of opinion obtained from counsel. A copy is appended to the signed Minutes. The Cabinet expressed appreciation of the work of the team involved in development of the Structure Plan, and particularly Mrs Upton, for their work throughout the process. RESOLVED: to RECOMMEND 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, subject
to amendment of the response to representation 2577 to include
the wording on environmental improvements which appeared against
representation 2567;
172/05. DRAFT SOUTH EAST PLAN - HOUSING DISTRIBUTION
(Agenda Item 7) The Cabinet considered a report (CA7) on a request by the South East England Regional Assembly for the County Council to advise it on district housing distribution by 9 December 2005. Councillor Purse stated that the Transport Report indicated the real price of housing growth and expressed concern that decisions appeared to have been made on transport options. She considered that a multi-modal study of the A34 corridor should be pursued. She also asked why no local area meetings were proposed during the consultation process. Councillor Joslin questioned why reliance was being placed on Didcot’s potential for jobs, when Bicester had twice as much land allocated for employment. He expressed concern that the Distribution 2 proposal would increase the imbalance between the north and south of the County. Councillor Mitchell affirmed that no decisions had been made on transport options. Mr Cousins reported that the Central Oxfordshire Steering Group had considered the possibility of local area consultation meetings but had concluded in favour of the balance shown in the report. Councillor Belson having moved the recommendations set out in the report, Councillor Shouler moved an amendment by the addition, at the end of (a), of the following: "… subject to the addition of an Option 3, which would be based on the housing distribution to each district council as in Option 2, namely: Cherwell 5,200 Oxford 2,650 South Oxfordshire 4,200 Vale of White Horse 6,250 West Oxfordshire 2,600 (Total) 20,900 allowing each district council to determine the location of housing in its district;" The amendment was put to the vote and lost by 2 votes (Councillors Shouler & Waine) to 7 (Councillors Belson, Chapman, Couchman, Howell, Jelf, Mitchell and Robertson). RESOLVED (Councillors Shouler and Waine abstaining) to agree:
173/05. GOVERNMENT CONSULTATIONS ON HOUSING PROVISION AND GREEN BELTS
(Agenda Item 8) The Cabinet considered a report (CA8) which considered responses to the Government consultation papers published on the 18 July on Planning for Housing Provision and the Draft Green Belt Direction. Councillor Purse indicated her support for the proposed responses, and in particular the stand taken against reliance for preservation of the Green Belt on the substitution of land on its outer edge for Green Belt land lost to development. Ms Dow was congratulated on the clarity of her report. RESOLVED: to:
for submission to the Government as the County Council’s response to the consultation papers.
174/05. OXFORDSHIRE MINERALS AND WASTE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
(Agenda Item 9) Councillor Howell left the meeting for the duration of this item. The Cabinet considered a report (CA9) which sought authority for the undertaking of further steps in the preparation of a Minerals and Waste Development Framework. The Cabinet thanked Mr Day for his report. RESOLVED: to:
175/05. ENERGY FROM WASTE - SCRUTINY REVIEW
(Agenda Item 10) The Cabinet considered the Environment & Economy Scrutiny Committee’s report (CA10) on energy from waste. Mr Wood stated that he considered the report biased and noted that it did not ask whether incineration was in fact efficient in the light of newer waste disposal technologies. He suggested that the report underplayed financial disadvantages and the difficulty of obtaining planning clearance in the face of public opposition. He urged the Cabinet to put greater stock on recycling as a better option. Councillor Joslin spoke in support of the Scrutiny Review report findings and expressed appreciation of the contributions of the other members of the Review Group. Councillor Purse suggested that the report did not do justice to some of the newer recycling technologies available. She urged the Cabinet to maintain a technology-neutral stance at this stage. Councillor Belson welcomed the Scrutiny Committee’s report and recommendation. RESOLVED:
176/05. WASTE MANAGEMENT PARTNERSHIP: REVISED MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AND WASTE PERFORMANCE AND EFFICIENCY GRANT
(Agenda Item 11) The Cabinet considered a report (CA11) on recommendations from the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership to its constituent authorities. Councillor Purse considered that the revised Memorandum of Understanding did not represent a material advance in terms of providing a basis for co-ordinated partnership working on waste management in Oxfordshire. RESOLVED: to:
177/05. SAFETY FENCING ON DUAL CARRIAGEWAYS
(Agenda Item 12) The Cabinet considered a report (CA12) which proposed provision of a central reserve safety barrier on the Oxford Eastern Bypass and promotion of a 50mph speed limit on the complete length of the Eastern Bypass. Councillor Brighouse welcomed the report’s recommendations. She referred to the high number of pedestrians crossing this particular stretch of road and urged that this be taken into account in the design of the barrier scheme. She suggested that the Old Road overbridge be used to site speed cameras to help enforce the proposed 50mph speed limit. Mr Comisky represented that the proposed measures were premature pending full analysis of the causes of accidents on the Eastern Bypass. He objected to the proposed speed limit reduction specifically on the basis that in his view there was a risk that it would cause more accidents by imposing unreasonably slow speeds for the type of road. RESOLVED: to agree:
178/05. TRANSPORT PLANNING TERM CONSULTANCY
(Agenda Item 13) The Cabinet considered a report (CA13) on proposals to set up a new Term Consultancy Arrangement to take effect from April 2006, with an initial 5-year contract for an individual consultant to deliver transport planning consultancy services. RESOLVED: to:
179/05. PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SOUTH BANBURY
(Agenda Item 14) The Cabinet considered a report (CA14) on the result of consultation that had been conducted on proposals to re-organise Primary School provision in the area. In response to comments by Councillor Waine concerning the need for upgrading of the existing Harriers Ground School, Mr Hale reported that a targeted capital bid had been submitted to the Department for Education & Skills which, if approved, would allow such upgrading to take place. RESOLVED: to:
180/05. EDUCATION PROJECT APPRAISALS - LORD WILLIAMS'S SCHOOL, THAME AND ELMS ROAD NURSERY SCHOOL, BOTLEY
(Agenda Item 15) The Cabinet considered a report (CA15) which presented two project appraisals for schemes within the Learning & Culture Capital Programme. RESOLVED: to approve project appraisals ED625 and ED588/2, subject to the Cabinet Members for Children & Young People and Schools Improvement being satisfied as to the reasons for the revised costs shown in the latter.
181/05. THE OLD GAOL, ABINGDON
(Agenda Item 16 The Cabinet considered a report (CA16) which considered the outcome of a study into the feasibility of creating a cultural centre at the Old Gaol, Abingdon. Councillor Mayhew-Archer stated that she would like to see the scheme adopted but accepted that the high costs involved made this difficult. The Town Council was particularly anxious to achieve a larger, more accessible, museum and hoped that the Cabinet Member for Health & Community Services would continue discussions with the other parties with this end in mind. Councillor Legge stated that Abingdon Library was overstretched and that the Old Gaol development has seemed an ideal opportunity to resolve this problem. She urged that a lower cost alternative be considered if it was not possible to pursue the full scheme. Mr Munro assured the meeting that he attached great importance in the continuation of the cultural partnership in Abingdon, particularly in efforts for the establishment of a museum which would be readily accessible to all. Councillor Seale advised that in view of the restrictions on available capital resources a new library for Abingdon was not expected to command priority. Councillor Mitchell referred to the possible opportunities for redevelopment of the Old Gaol buildings on a more commercial basis. RESOLVED: to endorse the conclusion that the creation of a cultural centre as envisaged at Abingdon Old Gaol was not viable, on the grounds that the capital costs could not be afforded by the County Council now or in the foreseeable future.
182/05. PROPERTY CONSULTANCY SERVICES: FRAMEWORK CONTRACTS
(Agenda Item 17) The Cabinet considered a report (CA17) which sought approval for the process of appointing framework consultants to supplement the core property services consultancy. RESOLVED: to endorse the process set out in the report for the selection of the framework consultants to be in place by 1 April 2006.
183/05. CODE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
(Agenda Item 18) The Cabinet had before it a report (CA18) on the annual review of the Code of Corporate Governance. Following an Internal Audit of the corporate governance arrangements, the Code had been updated and the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee had recommended the Cabinet to approve it. RESOLVED:
184/05. APPOINTMENTS
(Agenda tem 19) The Cabinet had before it a report (CA19) that sought arrangements for its representation on two bodies: the Oxfordshire Community Partnership and the Teenage Pregnancy Partnership Board. Councillor Bryden suggested that in the interests of balance, the Leader of the Opposition be appointed to the additional place on the Oxfordshire Community Partnership. Councillor Mitchell responded that the Council’s participation in the Oxfordshire Community Partnership should be related to the strategic, leadership and functional responsibilities of the Cabinet. RESOLVED: to agree:
185/05. TREASURY MANAGEMENT - PRUDENTIAL BORROWING LIMITS
(Agenda Item 20) The Cabinet considered proposals to amend some of the 2005/06 indicators as outlined in the report (CA20) in order to avoid limiting the Council’s ability to finance the capital programme and to allow the authority to invest a higher proportion of its cash balances in variable rate instruments. RESOLVED: to RECOMMEND the Council to approve:
as shown in Annex 1 to the report.
186/05. FORWARD PLAN AND FUTURE BUSINESS
(Agenda Item 21) The Cabinet considered a list of items from the Forward Plan for the immediately forthcoming meetings (CA21). RESOLVED: note the items currently identified for forthcoming meetings.
in the Chair Date
of signing 2005
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