Agenda and minutes

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

Cllr Hayleigh Gascoigne submitted apologies. Cllr Alison Jenner attended as a substitute member.

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

There we no declarations.

To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chair. 

Chair ran through the procedure for this informal meeting.

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

There were no public participants or speakers.

Oxfordshire Plan – Regulation 18 (Part 2) Consultation Document

Scrutiny members to provide any comments – report to follow.

This item was introduced by Cabinet member Councillor Debby Hallett. Cabinet member Councillor Anne-Marie Simpson was also present to answer questions.

This was an item to scrutinise the consultation, not the plan itself.

Emma Baker and Andrew Down were supporting officers for this item. Adrian Duffield also joined the meeting for this item.

The purpose of this item was to allow scrutiny to view the cabinet report on the Regulation 18 consultation, before Cabinet review it.

It’s the 2^nd consultation on Regulation 18. Consultation starts on 30 July for 10 weeks.

Community webinars will be occurring for the public. For Vale, these will happen on 19 August and 22 September (lunchtimes). For South, they will happen on 18 August and 23 September (evenings).

The five local planning authorities need to endorse the consultation and the statement of community involvement.

There is a report for both councils. Appendix A contained the draft plan. An edited version was circulated yesterday. Extra documents were circulated to all councillors by wetransfer.

The item was opened up to comments from members.

·       Does this come back to scrutiny? It was confirmed that the results would come back to scrutiny. Detailed schedule of review was not prepared yet. Chair will ensure there will be a standing item on the work programme.

·       A view was raised about the intention for more retail / commercial space in Oxford City, when it could be utilised for housing, given the need. Reclaim the city centre for people. Councillors were encouraged to submit their views to the consultation.

·       Duty to cooperate – Officer responded that the documents have been drawn up by a shared team from County and the 5 authorities, it’s a shared effort. Statutory duty – we have a statement of common ground for collaboration. It is a separate entity in its own right, working together on the key issues. It is a strategic plan, and our local plan picks up on the detail within our district.

·       There are 5 spacial strategy options identified for consultation. Oxford-led growth is one – good opportunity to give views. Policy options are identified for councillors to respond to in the consultation.

·       Communications – how is it presented? Response cabinet member was that this will be online, for the statement of community involvement (appendix B). There will be mailing list distribution, printed copies available to request, webpages, social media and a comms press release to media. Virtual consultation is mindful of Covid risks.

·       Website needs to be accessible to all. Plan website and Oxfordshire Openthought. Some concern over the engagement of offline groups, or people not already on our lists or following our social media/websites.

·       This is a consultation for the public to review the options – you can feedback what you think is missing, what needs to be in focus – Cabinet is being asked to endorse this consultation. Is the options list ready for public consultation?

·       Is there a definition of ‘sustainable’? Need a punchy definition. Cabinet member Cllr Anne Marie  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.