Decisions

The exempt minutes of the meeting of 8 May 2019 were approved and signed.

Julia Spragg, Fossil-Free Oxfordshire, addressed the Committee regarding Items 9 and 10.

Apologies were received from Councillor Dr Simon Clarke (Councillor Mike Fox-Davies substituting) and Councillor Charles Mathew (Councillor Ted Fenton substituting).

The minutes of the meeting of 8 May 2019 were approved and signed.

It was agreed to change the date of the Committee meeting in July 2020 from 15 July to 22 July.

The following changes were agreed to the Work Programme:

11 September 2019

The Oxford Direct Services audit item will be taken under the Internal Audit Plan – Progress Report.

13 November 2019

Add the following items-

Financial Management Code (Lorna Baxter)

Update on the Carillion Recovery Plan (Owen Jenkins)

Corporate Security Update (George Eleftheriou)

Recommendations agreed.

Recommendations agreed.

Recommendations agreed.

RESOLVED: to note the report.

RESOLVED: to note the reports.

RESOLVED: that Councillor Tony Ilott be elected Deputy Chairman of the Committee for the 2019/20 Council Year.

Recommendations agreed.

In relation to Agenda Item 12, Councillor Roz Smith declared that she was also a councillor for Oxford City Council.

RESOLVED: that Councillor Nick Carter be elected Chairman of the Committee for the 2019/20 Council Year.

.Recommendations agreed.

The following item was discussed in public..

To note the proposal to appoint two senior joint posts so as to facilitate further joint working with OCC and CDC and to ask the Joint Shared Service & Personnel Committee to convene as soon as practicable to proceed with the recruitment and appointment of the most suitable candidate.

Recommendations agreed.

To seek approval to allow up to 30 buses an hour to continue to use Queen Street and therefore agree that in updating the Oxford Transport Strategy as part of developing the Council’s new Local Transport & Connectivity Plan (LTP5), the County Council’s policy is proposed to be changed so that, subject to the outcome of the LTP update process, it will not be actively pursuing the full pedestrianisation of Queen Street.

Recommendations agreed.

To discuss and consider Children, Education & Families’ option and recommendations.

Recommendations agreed.

To seek agreement of the allocation of underspent funding to Open Access Children’s Services projects.

Recommendations agreed including in respect of the additional recommendation of the Cross Party Group set out in the addenda.

To discuss and consider Children, Education & Families’ options and recommendations.

Recommendations agreed.

Noted.

Item 6 - Councillor Liz Brighouse

Item 7 – Councillor Glynis Phillips

Councillor Roz Smith

Item 9 – Councillor Liz Brighouse

Item 11 – Cllr Emma Turnbull          

Cllr Michael Waine (a statement from Councillor Waine was read out

Cllr John Howson   

Item 12  -  Cllr John Sanders

Cllr John Howson

John Paine, Oxfordshire NPC Group

Item 13 - Councillor Gill Sanders

Item 14 – Councillor Gill Sanders

Item 16 – Anne Purse – speaking on Maple Tree Centre

None.

Agreed and signed.

None.

Cllr Reeves

To seek approval for reviewed application form, criteria and guidance and the reviewed process for grant funds.

Recommendations agreed.

Discussion and consideration of the updated Investment Strategy ahead of submission to full Council later in 2019 as part of the financial planning process.

Recommendations agreed

To consider the Cabinet Advisory Group recommendations.

Agreed recs.

To note and seek agreement of the report.

Joint Responsibility: Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance.

Recommendations agreed.

To review Treasury Management activity in 2018/19 in accordance with the CIPFA code of practice.

Recommendations agreed.

Financial report on capital spending against budget allocations, including any necessary capital programme approvals.

Recommendations agreed.

To report on a quarterly basis any executive decisions taken under the specific powers and functions delegated under the terms of Part 7.2 (Scheme of Delegation to Officers) of the Council’s Constitution – Paragraph 6.3(c)(i).  It is not for Scrutiny call-in.

Noted.

Councillor Neville Harris moved and Councillor Stephan Gawrysiak seconded a procedural motion that the report be referred to the Audit & Governance Committee for further consideration.

The motion was put to the vote and was lost by 31 votes to 29.

Councillor Brighouse moved and Councillor Fawcett seconded a procedural motion to vote on recommendations (a) and (b) set out in the report and on the face of the Agenda separately.

The motion was put to the vote and was lost by 31 votes to 30.

The substantive motion was carried by 31 votes to 30.

The time being after 3.30 pm, this motion was considered dropped in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 15.1.

Council received the report of the Cabinet.

In relation to paragraph 5 (Question from Councillor Johnston to Councillor Constance) Councillor Constance gave an assurance that the work on the Oxford Euro 6 low emissions zones for buses would be fed into the Local Transport Plan 5.

In relation to paragraph 6 of the report (Question from Councillor Roz Smith to Councillor Constance) Councillor Constance agreed to ensure that the concept of further joint work and passing some of the County’s network team to the city so that the design of temporary road work signage was correct was put on the ‘to do’ list.

In relation to paragraph 7 of the report (Question from Councillor Phillips to Councillor Bartholomew) Councillor Bartholomew gave an undertaking to ask the Environmental CAG to look at how the council’s utility bills could be reduced in all council buildings.

With the consent of Council, Councillor Fox-Davies moved an amendment to his motion as follows:

“Many of my our Parishes have new housing developments all of which include roads and other infrastructure which will become OCC responsibility to maintain in the future.

The position in standard procedures for highways agreements (further to the Highways Act 1980) allows for OCC to take a bond to ensure that associated infrastructure is delivered with all speed and to the standard that allows OCC to adopt the new development roads once the developer has maintained them for a year.

At many of these developments, the housing is either fully or almost complete, but there are long lists of unfinished works preventing OCC from adopting the roads and associated infrastructure, many of which have been outstanding for many months or even years. 

Taking one example, the housing development has been finished for five years, the developer has banked their profits from the housing sales, but there is a list of over 70 defects (not minor) which are still outstanding.

As the estate has not been adopted, there are many issues which cannot be addressed (such as traffic controls/parking/lighting defects).

This Council therefore demands that the Communities Directorate use all legal powers available to ensure that maximum pressure is brought to bear on developers to enable all new developments to be adopted with speed and efficiency.”

The motion as amended was put to the vote and was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED: (54 votes to 0)

“Many of our Parishes have new housing developments all of which include roads and other infrastructure which will become OCC responsibility to maintain in the future.

The position in standard procedures for highways agreements (further to the Highways Act 1980) allows for OCC to take a bond to ensure that associated infrastructure is delivered with all speed and to the standard that allows OCC to adopt the new development roads once the developer has maintained them for a year.

At many of these developments, the housing is either fully or almost complete, but there are long lists of unfinished works preventing OCC from adopting the roads and associated infrastructure, many of which have been outstanding for many months or even years. 

Taking one example, the housing development has been finished for five years, the developer has banked their profits from the housing sales, but there is a list of over 70 defects (not minor) which are still outstanding.

As the estate has not been adopted, there are many issues which cannot be addressed (such as traffic controls/parking/lighting defects).

This Council therefore demands that the Communities Directorate use all legal powers available to ensure that maximum pressure is brought to bear on developers to enable all new developments to be adopted with speed and efficiency.”

With the consent of Council, Councillor Price moved her motion, amended at the suggest of Councillor Ian Hudspeth as shown in bold italics and strikethrough below:

“The Growth Deal is set to bring £215 million to Oxfordshire as part of the agreement with Central Government to deliver homes and infrastructure.

There is a risk that many of our residents will not experience the benefit of growth and at worst a fear that there could be a negative impact on our communities.

To ensure that future growth in Oxfordshire enhances the lives and outcomes of all our residents, Council calls upon the Leader of the Council to request that the Growth Board create considers creating an Inclusive Growth Commission as part of the current review. Comprised of Comprising independent experts, the Commission will gather and then consider evidence from across the County and make recommendations that will inform the future approach.”

 `

The motion as amended was Agreed unanimously.

RESOLVED: (58 votes to 0)

“The Growth Deal is set to bring £215 million to Oxfordshire as part of the agreement with Central Government to deliver homes and infrastructure.

There is a risk that many of our residents will not experience the benefit of growth and at worst a fear that there could be a negative impact on our communities.

To ensure that future growth in Oxfordshire enhances the lives and outcomes of all our residents, Council calls upon the Leader of the Council to request that the Growth Board considers creating an Inclusive Growth Commission as part of the current review. Comprising independent experts, the Commission will gather and then consider evidence from across the County and make recommendations that will inform the future approach.”

The amendment by Councillor Paul Buckley set out in the Schedule of business, Annex 1 was lost by 45 votes to 13,

The substantive motion was agreed unanimously (59 votes to 0).

17 questions with notice were asked. Details of the questions and answers and the supplementary questions and answers (where asked) are set out in Annex 1 to the Minutes.

In relation to question 7 (Question from Councillor Bartington to Councillor Constance), Councillor Constance invited all members to apply to be on the Environmental CAG which would be set up in July to look at Environmental issues.

In relation to Question 11 (Question from Councillor Buckley to Councillor Lindsay-Gale) Councillor Lindsay-Gale gave an undertaking to provide a written answer to Councillor Buckley detailing how many children with SEN, had had to be accommodated in out of county schools or in private schools within the County within the last 12 months

In relation to Question 12 (Question from Councillor Buckley to Councillor Constance) Councillor Constance gave an undertaking that the newly appointed Environmental & Waste Officer would look at reducing the amount of waste exported to Asian countries.

In relation to Question 14 (Question from Councillor Pressel to Councillor Constance) Councillor Constance gave an undertaking to ask officers to identify where extra car club spaces could be provided, in consultation with local members.

There were none.

Council received the following Petitions and Public Address:

Petitions

Ms Zuzana Hrdlickova and Ms Nicola Shorter presented a Petition of 379 Signatures requesting the Council to improve pedestrian safety and reduce traffic speeds in the Bartholomew and Littlemore Road area.

Public Address

Mr Adrian Townsend spoke in support of Agenda Item 12;

Ms Jabu Nala-Hartley, Chairman of Living Wage Campaign and Mr Mark Ladbrook, Living Wage Campaign, spoke in support of Agenda Item 14;

Council noted the following appointments:

Joint Shared Services and Personnel Committee

Councillors Ian Hudspeth, Ted Fenton, Jeannette Matelot, Liz Brighouse and Liz Leffman.

Council paid tribute and held a minutes’ silence in memory of Former County Councillor Wendy Humphries.

The Chairman invited Members of the Council to the following events:

 -

Wednesday 10 July 2019 – Buddies at Blenheim,

Friday 12 July 2019 – Oxfordshire County Music Service Music Gala Concert, Dorchester Abbey;

Friday 19 July 2019 – Charity Golf Event, Bicester Hotel Golf and Spa.

For tickets and further information please contact the Chairman’s PA, Neil Clayton.

There were none.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Fenton and Walker.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 21 May 2019 were approved and signed subject to the addition of the following text to Minute 32/19.

“Councillor Handley expressed his concern that the Joint Fire Consultative Committee had not met within the last 4 years.”