Agenda and minutes

Venue: This was a virtual meeting

Contact: Candida Mckelvey, Democratic Services Officer  07895213820

Items
No. Item

Sc33

Chairman's announcements

To receive any announcements from the chairman. 

Minutes:

Councillor Boyd, committee chairman, welcomed the committee members and explained the virtual meeting procedure for participation.

Sc34

Appoint a vice-chair

To appoint a vice-chair for the scrutiny committee, for the remainder of the 2019/20 municipal year.

Minutes:

Ron Batstone volunteered to be vice-chair for the rest of the 2019-20 municipal year.

Sc35

Apologies for absence

To record apologies for absence and the attendance of substitute members. 

Minutes:

Councillor Max Thompson gave his apologies ahead of the meeting, and Councillor Patrick O’Leary was present as his substitute.

Sc36

Minutes pdf icon PDF 98 KB

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Scrutiny Committee minutes of the meeting held on 6th February 2020. 

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting on 6 February 2020 were agreed as a correct record of the meeting. The chairman will sign them as such.

Sc37

Declarations of interest

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.  

Minutes:

None.

Sc38

Public participation

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

Minutes:

None.

Sc39

Urgent business

To receive notification of any matters which the chairman determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent. 

Minutes:

None.

Sc40

Review and comment on the draft Corporate Plan 2020-2024 for public consultation pdf icon PDF 188 KB

An opportunity for the committee to review the Cabinet’s developing thinking on the Corporate Plan 2020-24 themes and illustrative projects and provide any recommendations to Cabinet on its contents in advance of any public engagement and Cabinet on 10 July 2020.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Cabinet member for Corporate Services introduced the papers. Creating the draft Corporate Plan took time and was an enriching and rewarding process. There are key themes, underneath which there will be areas of work, which will produce related projects (programmes). These will be well defined lower level projects which will be defined as we are provided with more information from Local Government.

There have been changes related to Covid-19 and Local Government funding which leaves current uncertainty about what we have to spend. A local government restructure is due, with a White Paper to be issued in September 2020. The Corporate Plan encompasses our aspirations and values.

 

Committee Chairman led the committee through the themes of the draft Corporate Plan.

 

Theme 1 – providing the homes people need:

·         Discussion regarding what the aims were for affordable housing – Cabinet Member for Corporate services informed the committee that certain measures of affordability would be explored as part of the Corporate Plan and would be one of the first projects to move forward.

·         Climate Emergency Advisory Committee recommendations at the meeting of 1 July were supported by the scrutiny committee. Commitment to sustainability was agreed, and Cabinet member for Corporate Services added that the wording would be changed to included sustainability.

 

Theme 2 – Climate emergency

·         It was confirmed that the district ambitions of 75% reduction in council emissions by 2025 has been assessed as ambitious yet achievable by the Climate Emergency Advisory Committee (CEAC) and accepted by Cabinet.

·         Committee asked how the district council currently measures its emissions. Cabinet member for corporate services asked them to take a look at the council's website, and if there were specific questions, to come back to her via email so she can ask the Cabinet member for environment to provide the details.

·         Look after our own house first – monitoring energy use in offices and leisure centres and so on. Focus on what the council has control over.

 

Theme 3 – Building healthy communities

·         It was agreed this was a strong section.

 

Theme 4 – Building stable finances

·         This section will be defined further. Committee endorsed the change made (as a result of the CEAC meeting) to the phrase 'financially sensible'. 

·         CIPFA code of practice – Section 151 officer asked for this to be included as an example project, and this was supported by the committee.

 

 

Theme 5 - Working in partnership

·         Support shown for Youth Council project

·         Committee asked what the benefit of a mooted economic development review project would be to council (it's one of the examples provided). Cabinet member for corporate services explained that local businesses will be affected by the lockdown; unemployment is expected to rise, so we are intending to help businesses of all sizes to survive. 

·         Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership focuses on big businesses – the council could focus on small to medium sized local businesses.

 

Theme 6 – working in an open and inclusive way

·         Want representation from all backgrounds. The groups are yet to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item Sc40

Sc41

Work schedule and dates for all South and Vale scrutiny meetings pdf icon PDF 132 KB

To review the attached scrutiny work schedule. Please note, although the dates are confirmed, the items under consideration are subject to being withdrawn, added to or rearranged without further notice.

 

Minutes:

The work programme is in a fluid state whilst the Cabinet work programme settles down.

 

Committee Chairman asked that if the committee members have anything to add on the item regarding A34 diversion, please let his know so it forms part of the discussion.

 

 

The next meeting of the committee is on 20 July 2020.

 

 

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Vale of White Horse District Council
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