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 12 July 2023.  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.

It was noted that two written public questions had been submitted and circulated to the Panel in advance of the meeting. Full copies of the questions are available here.

George Curtis on behalf of Bioabundance asked two questions relating to the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan in the context that temperatures across the North Atlantic were at record levels and that the climate emergency could not be ignored. He along with other members of Bioabundance and members of Need Not Greed had attended some of the Plan workshops organised by OxLEP and although the Links to the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision principle GP1 to reverse the impacts of climate change were noted, it was felt this priority had not been reflected in the Plan scenarios put forward by the OxLEP team.

Concern was expressed that the Plan was not ready for consideration by the Future Oxfordshire Partnership, that it did not recognise the impact of Scope Three emissions arising from the building of market value housing to increase GDP and that there was a lack of focus towards ‘affordable’ housing.

The Panel was asked to:

1.     Consider whether the scenarios put forward by the OxLEP Team were ready to be considered by the FOP without the impact of the consequent scope three carbon emissions being made available to the decision makers in the County?

2.     Consider whether the scenarios put forward by the OxLEP Team adequately addressed the shortage of social housing and housing genuinely affordable by first time buyers?

Suzanne McIvor on behalf of Need Not Greed asked the Panel to make the following recommendations to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership relating to Agenda Item 6, the Strategic Economic Plan.

That the Scrutiny Panel welcomes the update on progress with the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan but believes that there are still fundamental gaps in the work and asks the FOP to ensure these are addressed prior to any endorsement of the Plan.  

In particular, the Scrutiny Panel would wish to see a detailed justification behind the prioritisation of particular outcomes (ref Slide 13 of the Ag Item 6 PowerPoint presentation) which relegates to “2^nd tier” critical issues such as achieving carbon neutrality, improving the natural environment and having a happier and healthier population.  

In addition, the Scrutiny Panel was asked to request that the Future Oxfordshire Partnership secure:

·           Immediate publication of the supporting evidence base which has so far not been made available for broader stakeholder or public comment.

·           An assessment of the degree to which stakeholder engagement has achieved an appropriately broad social reach, including currently disadvantaged communities that should stand to gain most benefit from a robust SEP.

·           A report which highlights clearly what changes, if any, have been made to the emerging SEP as a result of any stakeholder input.

·           Clarity on the situation with regards to the brief/outcome for the proposed (or already undertaken?) Independent Economic Review.

·           Clarity on the timetable which, as currently outlined, suggests that the OxLEP Board will sign off the SEP in September but it will not come to the FOP for consideration until November, which the Scrutiny Panel would consider to be inappropriate in terms of democracy and transparency.

The Chair indicated that the questions were noted and that they would be taken into account and considered as part of the discussion of the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan agenda item.