Agenda item

Members of the public may submit an address or question in writing to the Scrutiny Panel, where full notice of the question or address is given to the secretariat no later than 17:00 on Wednesday 17 November 2021.  Questions and addresses submitted should be no longer than one side of A4 paper in Arial 12 font. The address or question will be circulated to the Panel and public speakers will be invited to speak at the virtual meeting. Written submissions may also be read out by the Chair or Democratic Services Officer where requested or if the person making the request for public speaking is not able to attend the meeting. A response may be given at the meeting or a written answer supplied. Questions and notice of addresses must be submitted to futureoxfordshirepartnership@southandvale.gov.uk

Note: This meeting may be recorded for live broadcast via the Future Oxfordshire Partnership’s YouTube Channel - at the start of the meeting the Chair will confirm the meeting is being filmed. By registering to speak you are consenting to being recorded and to the use of those video and audio recordings for webcasting.

The Scrutiny Panel received written questions from two public speakers. 

Helen Marshall from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (Oxfordshire) asked who would be making the decisions on which direction the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 should take, on what basis would these decisions be taken, and how would this process be made transparent to the public.

The Chair invited Giles Hughes, Chief Executive of West Oxfordshire District Council and senior officer for the Oxfordshire Plan 2050, to comment. He explained that the decision on the policies to guide development as part of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 would be taken by the five local planning authorities (the City and the four district councils) with consideration of national planning policy. This would be taken through formal decisions when councils approve the draft Oxfordshire Plan 2050 for consultation, which is planned for July 2022.

The principal Oxfordshire Councils would work together to assess the options and to reach a common position through discussion ahead of those formal decisions. Any decision would be taken following Scrutiny Committee consideration at the Councils in the normal way. Decisions would be taken in accordance with all relevant access to information legislation, requiring for example, forward notice of decisions to be published.

The Scrutiny Panel welcomed the question and agreed that this question should also be put to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership meeting on 30 November 2021.

Suzanne McIvor, from Need Not Greed Oxfordshire, added to her written statement. She expressed concern regarding the Oxfordshire Growth Needs Assessment (OGNA) that it was not concise and clear for the public. She expressed the view that the number of homes being proposed in the scenarios within the OGNA did not represent actual need, but instead unrealistic growth forecasts. A request was made to commission a peer review of the OGNA, its methods and underlying assumptions, and the impact this has had on the number of homes proposed. Suzanne asked whether the Scrutiny Panel would support calling for a peer review of the OGNA, and whether the Panel would ask the Future Oxfordshire Partnership to agree terms of reference with civic groups to commission a peer review.

Giles Hughes explained that officers were in the process of logging and analysing responses to the recent consultation, which were significant in number and very welcome. More work was needed to reflect on the totality of those responses before the next steps could be decided, such as whether to undertake a review of the OGNA. A paper was expected to be forthcoming in 2022 setting out next steps.

The Chair invited comments and a mixture of views were expressed. The meeting agreed to vote on whether the Panel should support the request for a peer review of the OGNA. The meeting voted in favour of supporting a review.

RESOLVED:

That the Scrutiny Panel recommends that the Future Oxfordshire Partnership:

1.    explain who is going to make the decisions on which direction the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 should take, on what basis these decisions will be taken, and how this process will be transparent to the public.

2.    initiate a peer review of the Oxfordshire Growth Needs Assessment.