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ITEM CA3

CABINET

MINUTES of the meeting held on 19 September 2006 commencing at 2.00 pm and finishing at 5.49 pm.

Present:

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 the following additional documents:

• A written submission from Councillor Roz Smith in relation to Agenda Item 9;
• A proposed amendment to Annex 4 to reflect comments by the Environment & Economy Scrutiny Committee and other representations;
• A supplementary report and suggested response relating to Agenda Item 14; and
• A supplementary briefing note relating to Agenda Item 17

and decided as set out below. Except insofar as otherwise specified, the reasons for the decisions are contained in the agenda, reports, schedule and additional documents, copies of which are attached to the signed Minutes.

137/06. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Louise Chapman.

138/06. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillors Keith R. Mitchell and Jim Couchman declared personal interests in relation to Agenda Item 14 on the grounds that they were both members of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Councillor Keith R. Mitchell declared a personal interest in relation to Agenda Item 12 on the grounds that he was a trustee on the Oxford Preservation Trust.

Councillor Bob Johnston declared a personal interest at Agenda Item 9 by virtue of his employment by the Office for National Statistics.

139/06. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2006 were approved and signed.

140/06. PETITIONS AND PUBLIC ADDRESS

Oxford City Councillor Paul Sargent presented a petition at Agenda Item 4 which called for the night time gating of Bulwarks Lane and the alley linking Pembroke Street and Pembroke Square. This was referred to officers for future report.

Oxford City Councillor Susannah Pressel presented a petition at Agenda Item 9 which opposed charges for residential parking permits in West Oxford.

Councillor Barbara Gatehouse presented a petition at Agenda Item 9 which reflected the concerns of residents in Blackbird Leys regarding the proposal to introduce parking charges for match day parking.

The following addressed the meeting:-

Request from	Agenda Item
Mr Mick Fry (MRF Window Cleaning Service)	9.
Mr Chaka Artwell, Oxford Resident.	)
Mr Nicholas Oliver Fell, on behalf of the Parking Tax Rebel Army (a wing of the Residents’ Association for Gladstone Road, Bowton Road and Colemans Hill, Oxford).	) ) ) ) )
Councillor Paul Sargent (Oxford City Councillor for Carfax)	)
Mr Andrew Wood (Oxfordshire Friends of the Earth)	10.
Mr Graham Jones (ROX – Rescue Oxford).	12.
Mr Tony Joyce (Oxford Civic Society)	)

141/06. FINANCIAL MONITORING

(Agenda Item 6)

The Cabinet considered a report (CA5) which covered the period ended 31 July 2006 for both revenue and capital.

RESOLVED: to:

1. note the report;
2. approve the permanent virement to allocate funding within the Home to School Transport budget (paragraph 29);
3. approve the permanent virement to restructure the Youth Service budget in line with the new management structure (paragraph 30);
4. approve a permanent virement of £0.026m to Financial Services and Procurement from interest on balances to fund an additional post in respect of income management (paragraph 71);
5. approve the allocation of additional Local Authority Business Growth Incentive to ICT to fund Corporate projects (paragraph 75);
6. approve the temporary virement to transfer £0.100m from Statementing and £0.296m from Out of County to Special Educational Needs Support Service (paragraph 27);
7. RECOMMEND Council approve the following permanent virements:

 

1. the transfer of £0.500m from the Early Years and Family Support contingency to Agency Placements (paragraph 31);
2. of £0.250m from the equipment service to Internal Home Support (paragraph 46);
3. an additional £1.2m permanent contribution to the Older People’s Pooled budget (paragraph 47);
4. of the Social & Community Services contingency of £1.313m as detailed in paragraph 56 of the report.
   
   

142/06. SERVICE AND RESOURCE PLANNING 2007/08 – 2011/12

(Agenda Item 6)

The Cabinet considered a report (CA6) which was the first in a series that would inform members on the service and resource planning process and budget issues for 2007/08 and the medium term, and provided initial information that would lead to the Council agreeing a budget requirement and council tax for 2007/08 in February 2007.

In relation to (d) below officers undertook to produce a list of projects that could have been included, together with reasons for their rejection.

RESOLVED: to:

1. note the report;
2. approve the Service and Resource Planning Process for 2007/08;
3. maximise supported borrowing allocations for 2007/08 and to consider this for future years when the advice in (d) below is received; and
4. ask the Capital Steering Group to consider the use of unallocated capital resources of £1.9m in line with capital requirements, and to advise the Cabinet on those projects which should be included in the Capital Programme for 2007/08 to 2009/10.
   
   

143/06. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

(Agenda Item 7)

The Cabinet considered a quarterly report (CA7) for the County Council’s performance at the end of the first quarter of 2006/7.

RESOLVED: to note the report.

144/06. ESTABLISHMENT MONITORING

(Agenda Item 8)

The Cabinet considered an update on activity since the implementation of the new Establishment Review and associated Recruitment Approval process on 1 August 2005 (CA8).

Mr Munn reported that the establishment figure as at 30 June 2006 excluding schools was 4,775.

RESOLVED: to:

1. note the report; and
2. confirm that the Establishment Review continues to meet requirements in reporting and managing staffing numbers.
   
   

145/06. OXFORD CONTROLLED PARKING AND RESIDENTS’ PARKING ZONES

• Councillor Susannah Pressel (Oxford City Councillor for Jericho and Osney Division);
• Mr Mick Fry (MRF Window Cleaning Services);
• Mr Chaka Artwell, (Oxford resident);
• Mr Nicholas Oliver Fell, speaking on behalf of the Parking Tax Rebel Army (a wing of the Residents’ Association for Gladstone Road, Bowton Road and Coleman’s Hill);
• Councillor Bob Johnston (speaking as a Shadow Cabinet Member);
• Councillor Barbara Gatehouse (speaking as a Local Member for Leys & Lye);
• Councillor Liz Brighouse (speaking as a Local Member for Barton and Churchill);
• Councillor Olive McIntosh Stedman (speaking as a Local Member for Cowley and Littlemore);
• Councillor John Sanders; and
• Councillor Paul Sargent (Oxford City Councillor for Carfax).

• many citizens believed the consultation process to be flawed, and that a decision had already been made;
• the consultation questionnaire should have been sent to all residents;
• the question ‘is there a case for introducing parking charges?’ was academic and residents had not been asked directly whether they wanted parking charges to be introduced;
• a MORI poll should have been commissioned, which would have also consulted on levels of enforcement and different charges for different areas;
• there was considerable public opposition to the scheme and therefore it would not be democratic to agree the proposals;
• the scheme would be antisocial, as friends and family would have to plan their visits in advance;
• shops in Headington would be adversely affected as it would be harder for people to stop and browse;
• in some areas residents were already competing for parking spaces;
• the proposed fees were inconsistent: the first permit should be free and subsequent permits issued at a higher cost;
• residents should not have to pay for permits when visitors did not;
• people who came into the city centre should be charged instead;
• residents in Headington and Barton were being charged as a result of developments by the Hospitals and both Universities and therefore it would be unjust if residents in those areas were charged for parking as a result;
• the charges would be unreasonable for people on low incomes in Cowley and Littlemore;
• the Cabinet should drop the proposed charge for residents parking in Kassam Stadium zones and increase the penalty charge instead;
• there should be no match day parking charges in Blackbird Leys;
• the charges would have a detrimental effect on window cleaners and tradesmen;
• there were a number of regular ‘carers’ who did not qualify for parking permits but needed them to do their job; elderly or disabled housebound people needed more visitor permits, either free or for a small charge; and people who did not own a car might be eligible for extra visitor permits as they were still using much less road space than if they had a resident’s permit;
• Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) in the City should be considered as part of the Oxford Transport Strategy;
• a new consultation should be undertaken; and
• other options for covering the cost of the controlled zones, for example, increasing the penalty charges or having one zone in a division instead of several zones should have been considered.

• 40% of people parking in the city centre were Oxfordshire residents;
• if medical evidence was provided then a charge would not be made to visiting family members; and
• CPZs were part of the local transport strategy to prevent intrusive long stay parking.

• charges for permits were commonplace in many other cities;
• all views from the consultation had been considered; and changes to the original proposals had been made in response;
• the consultation questionnaire was designed to allow people to give their comments and they could have answered ‘O’ in response to the question about the level of charging they wished to see;
• CPZs included provision for business permit holders;
• a limited number of carers had been provided with carers permits;
• any revenue from the Parking Account would be transferred to the On-Street Parking Reserve Account. This money could only be spent on transport related capital projects and details of how it had been used would be put on the County Council’s Website in order to improve transparency for the public;
• officers would look into whether the revenue could be used to fund Police Community Support Officers to look at security, graffiti and antisocial behaviour; and
• they would also look into whether the parking attendants could carry out a wider role.

1. Approve the introduction of charges for parking permits in Oxford as follows;

 

1. All zones except the match-day event zones;
   Residents parking permits
   £40 a year for each of the first two permits for any household in any zone
   £80 a year for a third permit,
   £120 a year for a fourth and further permits in zones where Orders allow this.
   Visitors parking permits
   No charge for one batch of 25 permits; £15 for a second batch of 25 permits.
   No charge for visitors permits issued to qualifying residents aged 70 or over.
   Contractors permits
   £15 for a discretionary authorisation to apply for a week in the zone requested.
   
   
2. match-day event zones (Kassam Stadium zones)
   Residents parking permit
   £10 a year for each permit.
   

 

2. Authorise the making of the Traffic Regulation Orders with the necessary modifications for visitors’ permits as set out in (a) above;
3. Instruct officers to take the necessary actions to improve the service as set out in paragraph 38 noting that in some cases these would be dependent on further amendments to Traffic Regulation Orders;
4. Instruct officers to review West Oxford and South Oxford Controlled Parking Zones within 18 months and draw up a programme of regular reviews for Oxford Controlled Parking Zones generally;
5. Instruct officers to make arrangements to enforce parking restrictions around the Kassam stadium when car boot sales are held at the stadium.

146/06. OXFORDSHIRE JOINT MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

(Agenda Item 10)

The Cabinet considered a report on the Oxfordshire Joint Municipal Waste Strategy (CA10) which set out how the County Council and the 5 Oxfordshire District Councils were going to work in partnership to manage waste effectively over the next 26 years in the context of future challenges, the need for change and a shared vision for the future. Members also had before them written submissions from Councillor Jean Fooks and Mr Steve Gerrish, an Oxfordshire resident.

Mr Andrew Wood, speaking on behalf of Oxfordshire Friends of the Earth (FOE), welcomed the Strategy, commenting that FOE would like to see an aspiration that residual waste was phased out completely. In his view, the County’s recycling targets were not sufficiently ambitious. He urged the Cabinet not to underestimate the climate change impacts of the various technologies, adding that other waste treatments like mechanical biological treatment based on anaerobic digestion had less impact on climate change and might carry less risk.

Councillor Anne Purse, speaking as Shadow Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, commented that it was regrettable that the County Council’s main publicity had centred on the collection of garden waste. She urged the Cabinet to investigate the disposal of kitchen waste as a matter of urgency, commenting that bin bags could easily be torn open by animals. She also urged the Cabinet to ensure that they selected a sustainable waste treatment facility.

Councillor Belson referred to the written submission from Councillor Fooks on behalf of Oxford City Council and undertook to forward her comments to the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership.

RESOLVED: subject to the comments of the Environment & Economy Scrutiny Committee, to approve the Oxfordshire Joint Municipal Waste Strategy and authorise the Director for Environment & Economy following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development to approve any minor amendments which might arise as a result of the consideration of this strategy by the other partners of the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership.

147/06. PROCUREMENT OF WASTE TREATMENT FACILITIES

(Agenda Item 11)

The Committee considered a report (CA11) which sought Cabinet approval for the procurement of waste treatment facilities for Oxfordshire.

Councillor Anne Purse, speaking as Shadow Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development, urged the Cabinet to ensure that they chose the most environmentally sustainable waste treatment facility and emphasised that this should not be a substitute for recyling.

Councillor Belson referred to the written submission from Councillor Fooks on behalf of Oxford City Council and undertook to forward her comments to the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership.

RESOLVED: on the basis of the outline business case to:

 

1. endorse the need to procure waste treatment facilities to help meet Oxfordshire’s targets under European and Government legislation for reducing the amount of biodegradable waste that is landfilled;

 

2. agree the advertisement of an Official Journal of the European Union notice to formally begin the procurement process as soon as the relevant documentation can be prepared;

 

3. authorise the Director for Environment and Economy, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development to take into account comments of the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee in preparing for procurement; and

 

4. authorise the Director for Environment and Economy to approve the necessary procurement documentation following consultation with the Cabinet member for Sustainable Development.
   
   

148/06. WESTGATE REDEVELOPMENT, OXFORD

(Agenda Item 12)

The Cabinet considered a report on the proposed Westgate Redevelopment (CA12) which concentrated on the main issues for the County Council raised by the proposal.

Mr Graham Jones, speaking on behalf of Rescue Oxford (ROX), expressed the organisation’s serious concerns regarding the lack of sufficient transport infrastructure to support the size of the development. He commented that sustainability had become synonymous with moving as many people over to public transport and away from cars as possible, asking how sustainable this was. He commented that this would involve relying on an increasing number of buses and urged the Cabinet to ensure that there was a balanced strategy in place, including increased parking provision.

Mr Tony Joyce, speaking on behalf of Oxford Civic Society, expressed his concern regarding the traffic implications of the development and urged the Cabinet to strengthen their instructions to officers regarding cycling provision, with particular reference to the need for facilities for staff working at the site and covered off street provision.

Councillor Bob Johnson, speaking as Shadow Cabinet Member for Transport, commented that the Liberal Democrat Group supported the Westgate Redevelopment in principle, urging the Cabinet to focus on public transport, with particular reference to buses.

Councillor Robertson stated that a transport working group had looked at a wide range of issues and that an alternative route for buses had been drawn up.

RESOLVED: subject to the amendments to Annex 4 (download as .doc file) (attached) reflecting the comments of the Environment & Economy Scrutiny Committee to:

1. give its broad support to the proposed redevelopment of the Westgate centre, subject to the securing of appropriate financial contributions, legal agreements and conditions as summarised in Annex 4;
2. endorse the comments in the report and the specific requirements contained in Annex 4 of the report for forwarding to Oxford City Council; and
3. authorise the Director for Environment & Economy, following consultation with the Cabinet Members for Sustainable Development and Transport, to forward any additional comments should further significant variations in the detail of the application be proposed.
   
   

149/06. CUSTOMER FOCUS SCRUTINY REVIEW

(Agenda item 13)

The Cabinet had before it the Customer Focus Scrutiny Review which had been submitted by the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee, together with comments by the Cabinet Member for Change Management. The purpose of the review was to look at whether the Council was effective in focusing on the needs of local people in providing its services. The review was presented by Councillors Lawrie Stratford and David Wilmshurst, members of the Review Team.

Following presentation of the Review, the Cabinet RESOLVED: to:

1. thank the review panel and officers for their work in undertaking this review;
2. ask the Charter Mark Programme Board to consider the recommendations made by the review panel in the context of its own work programme and, where appropriate, take the recommendations into account in the Council’s preparation for a Corporate Charter Mark; and
3. ask Councillor Howell to communicate to the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee the Charter Mark Programme Board’s response to the Review’s recommendations in six month’s time, and then report thereafter in an annual cycle.
   
   

150/06. LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME – FUTURE OPTIONS

(Agenda Item 14)

The Cabinet considered reports on future options for the Local Government Pension Scheme (CA14 & Supplementary Report) together with a suggested response by the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Cabinet Member for Change Management.

(Annex - download as .doc file)


RESOLVED: to authorise the Director for Resources, to submit the tabled response by the Cabinet members for Finance and Change Management to the Department for Communities and Local Government by 29 September 2006.

151/06. NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR NHS CONTINUING HEALTHCARE AND NHS - FUNDED NURSING CARE

(Agenda Item 15)

The Cabinet considered a proposed County Council response to the consultation on the National Framework for National Health Service (NHS) Continuing Healthcare and NHS Funded Nursing Care (CA15), together with the advice from the Social & Community Services Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED: to:

1. endorse, subject to amending the response to question 11, to state that the County Council wished to see a 2 band arrangement for payments of NHS funded Nursing Care, the detailed response to the Department of Health on the consultation on the new National Framework for NHS Continuing Care as set out in Annex 1;
2. request a more detailed report on the financial and operational implications of the outcome of the consultation once new Department of Health Guidance has been issued; and
3. request that the Directorates for Children, Young People & Families and Social & Community Services work jointly to ensure that the Frameworks for NHS Continuing Healthcare enable a smooth transfer from children to adults services.
   
   

152/06. PERFORMANCE OF PROPERTY PORTFOLIO

(Agenda Item 16)

The Cabinet considered the annual report on the performance of the Council’s property portfolio (CA16) which detailed the performance of the Council’s property portfolio from April 2005 to March 2006.

RESOLVED: to note the report and request that benchmarking information and targets be provided in the Corporate Asset Management Plan for 2007/08.

153/06. FIRE PRECAUTIONS ON SCHOOL PREMISES

(Agenda Item 17)

The Cabinet had before it a report on Fire Precautions on School Premises (CA17) together with a briefing note on Sprinklers in Schools and a written submission from Councillor Fooks.

Councillor Jelf commented that he would be recommending the uptake of sprinklers.

RESOLVED: to agree the actions set out in Paragraph 3 of the report.

154/06. FORWARD PLAN AND FUTURE BUSINESS

in the Chair

Date of signing 2006

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