Future Oxfordshire Partnership’s response to recommendations of the Future Oxfordshire Partnership Scrutiny Panel

Recommendations made on 13 September 2021

The Future Oxfordshire Partnership is requested to provide a response to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel for decision at its meeting on Day Month Year.

Recommendation	Agree?	Comment
Recommendation 1: That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership request that HM Government consider ways to simplify and rationalise the process by which it considers local authority bids for funding through initiatives such as the Community Renewal Fund and Levelling Up Fund, so as to encourage a system wide approach.
Recommendation 2: That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership agree recommendation 2 of the ERP report around the need for partners to continue to undertake a whole system response to securing economic recovery and that specifically, this includes, but not be limited to, a system wide approach to town centre renewal and the promotion of manufacturing as a sector.
Recommendation 3: That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership provides feedback that the Economic Recovery Plan should draw on wider dis-aggregated data that helps to show how some sections of society may be disadvantaged through the economic recovery, particularly for young people who are not in education, employment, or training. This will be useful to inform targeted interventions.
Recommendation 4: That the Future Oxfordshire Partnership be requested to strengthen its draft response to HM Government’s Oxford to Cambridge Arc Vison Consultation to emphasise: a. The importance of environmental preservation and enhancement across all pillars of the proposed Vision and considerations for the future of the Arc. b. The importance of the securing adequate provision of data centres in order to support greater digital connectivity. c. The need for full electrification of the East West Railway as a current rather than future priority. d. The need to reduce dependency on private cars within developments through good site connectivity and design. e. The need to ensure that matters of housing viability and affordability are not used as reasons to compromise or weaken environmental building standards. f. Quantifiable and defensible targets and numbers should be set in order to give the welcome aspirations within the Vision more credibility and robustness. g.  The need to recognise that inequality is not evenly distributed within Oxfordshire and that pockets of serious deprivation do exist within the county.