Agenda and minutes

Cllr Mallon had submitted his apologies  (substitute: Cllr Nigel Simpson) as had Cllr Fatemian (substitute: Cllr Nick Field-Johnson).

None were made.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January and to receive information arising from them.

The Committee is recommended to AGREE the minutes as an accurate record having raised any necessary amendments

The Committee resolved to AGREE the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2023 as an accurate record without amendment.

Members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting in person or ‘virtually’ through an online connection. To facilitate ‘hybrid’ meetings we are asking that requests to speak are submitted by no later than 9am four working days before the meeting i.e., 9am on Thursday 20 April 2023. Requests to speak should be sent to committeesdemocraticservices@oxfordshire.gov.uk If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that if the technology fails, then your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9am 2 working days before the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

There were none.

As part of its Crime and Disorder Panel responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder (Overview and Scrutiny) Regulations 2009 the Committee invites Matthew Barber, Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley, Jason Hogg, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and Katy Barrow-Grint, Assistant Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police to present. Cllr Jenny Hannaby, Cabinet Member for Community Services and Safety, Ansaf Azhar, Director of Public Health, Rob MacDougall, Chief Fire Officer, Kevin Cox, Thames Valley Police Crime Prevention Design Advisor will also be attending to contribute to discussion, and Chairs of the Community Safety Partnerships in Oxfordshire have also been invited.

The Committee is asked to consider the reports and responses to questions and, having discussed them, AGREE any recommendations arising therefrom.

NB An additional presentation will be circulated as part of an addendum to the main agenda pack.

As part of its Crime and Disorder Panel responsibilities under the Crime and Disorder (Overview and Scrutiny) Regulations 2009, the Committee invited the Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, and one of the two Assistant Chief Constables to attend to discuss both the Commissioner’s and the force’s strategic priorities.  Cllr Jenny Hannaby, Cabinet Member for Community Services and Safety, and Rob MacDougall, Chief Fire Officer, and the Thames Valley Police Crime Prevention Design Advisor also attended.

The Police and Crime Commissioner had hoped to join the meeting virtually but was unable to do so.  The Committee regretted that he had not attended in person and planned to invite him to its next meeting.

Jason Hogg introduced himself as the new Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police (TVP).  He gave an introduction to the context in terms of his priorities and some of the challenges faced by the organisation.

TVP had almost 9000 working for it, including officers, staff, and volunteers, and a budget of just over £0.5bn.  The Chief Constable explained that his management team was largely recently appointed.  He gave an overview of it and of the Oxfordshire Local Policing Commanders. 

The strategic plan set out the Chief Constable’s four priorities for the organisation: serving victims, fighting crime, building trust, and valuing our people.  The Chief Constable gave an overview of them and the priorities that lay under them.

He raised the issue of trust in the police that had arisen as a result of issues with the Metropolitan Police.  TVP had recently been inspected by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and was described as having an “inclusive and ethical culture” which “treats people fairly and with respect” and demonstrated a “use of powers which is fair and proportionate.”  This did not mean that the force was complacent and there would be officers and staff in court in coming months.  TVP was developing measures to assess levels of trust and confidence in the local area.

The target was to double the number of neighbourhood police officers in order to build visibility and target crime.  The Chief Constable was keen to publish information openly and transparently.

TVP had successful recruitment campaigns.  44% of new recruits last year were female and 18% were from a BAME background which was the highest proportion ever.  Officers were younger than average and, whilst TVP has a good reputation, neighbouring areas were cheaper to live in and so there were some issues with retention.

At its previous inspection, TVP reported excess workloads and limited resources.  This was improving.

Katy Barrow-Grint, Assistant Chief Constable, gave an overview of work combatting Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG).  TVP had worked closely with a national group chaired by Maggie Blythe to devise key streams of work.

External trust and confidence and internal trust and confidence were two streams pursued by TVP.  One thing that TVP had developed to support staff was a Rape and Sexual  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/23

A report by Corporate Director of Environment and Place Bill Cotton on the Vision Zero Strategy and Programme. Cabinet Member Councillor Andrew Gant will also be attending the meeting to present the report and answer questions.

The Committee is recommended, having considered the report and responses to questions, to AGREE any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet arising therefrom.

Cllr Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Highway Management, introduced the report on the Vision Zero Programme which gave background information about the Programme, work carried out to date, and an overview of the Vision Zero Strategy and Capital Business Case timeline going forward.  The workstream was less than a year old and set up after fatalities in and around Oxford.  He highlighted the necessary cultural shift referred to in paragraph 6 of the report and the eight workstreams set out in paragraph 11 of the report, namely Policy Development; Speed Management; New Infrastructure and Development; Cycling Safety; Road Safety Education; Improvement Programmes; Communication & Engagement; Stakeholder Engagement.

Paul Fermer, Director of Highways and Operations, and Caroline Coyne, Programme Manager, attended to provide further detail to the Committee and to answer its questions.

The Director of Highways and Operations explained that the report outlined how the Council sought to approach Vision Zero pulling together the variety of activity across the Council into one coherent programme.  The Director was conscious that there might be frustration at the speed of the programme but was optimistic that progress would now be seen.  Both Cllr Gant and the Director of Highways and Operations expressed their confidence that the Committee would provide valuable feedback.

In response to questions, the following was noted:

·       £250k revenue and £5m capital was allocated at that juncture. It was extremely difficult to forecast how much capital budget was required to upgrade all junctions that were deemed dangerous.  There was a section of the capital budget allocated and the Director suggested that approximately £1m per year might be sufficient to upgrade two or three junctions.  However, he emphasised that some sites were at complex junctions or had particular features that would need significant sums to improve them.  Some dangerous bends would need considerable efforts as well as land purchase and expenditure to improve them.  One of the priorities for the work would be to consider the available data and to gather information about where the biggest challenges lay and where improvements would be easily-achievable.

·       It was not considered prudent to estimate how much meeting the Vision Zero ambition would cost in monetary terms because of the range of components necessary to achieve it.  The Director emphasised that simply spending large sums of money on infrastructure projects alone would not be sufficient to achieve it.  Cllr Gant advised that he had had discussions with Cabinet colleagues and that, in addition to £5m from reserves (which would fall under the umbrella of discretionary funding), there were different funding streams that were allocated to particular aspects, including the Safer Roads Fund, Active Travel tranches, developer funds, HIF Fund, the HMI fund.  Cllr Gant was keen for the Council to maintain its momentum and embed its principles and policies relating to Vision Zero into everything the Council did, including responding to planning applications as a statutory consultee.  He considered the latter should not be given approval if the commitments are not addressed.

·       Different governance structures for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6/23

The Committee resolved to NOTE the action and recommendation tracker.  The Corporate Director for Environment and Place advised the Committee that he would work with the Scrutiny team to update the tracker as a number of actions currently coloured amber could be moved to green.

There was a discussion about how the timings of submissions to Cabinet could be more effective and the Committee resolved to REQUEST that the Governance Review Working Group be asked to consider how this could be improved and to provide an update on a Cabinet-Scrutiny Protocol.

Cabinet has made no formal responses to Committee recommendations since the Committee’s last meeting. No Cabinet responses are currently overdue.

The Committee is asked to NOTE this.

The Committee resolved to NOTE that no formal responses to the Committee’s recommendations had been made by Cabinet since the Committee’s last meeting and that no responses were currently overdue.

The Committee is asked to consider and AGREE the proposed work programme. 

The Committee considered the proposed work programme.  The Committee requested that a meeting be arranged to consider a work programme for the rest of the year and also asked to be able to consider the Walking and Cycling Design Guide.

The Committee agreed to delete the Carbon Reduction Working Group from the work programme and requested that the Transport Working Group be moved forward.

The Committee’s work programme was AGREED subject to the amendments detailed above.