Agenda and minutes

Venue: This will be a virtual, online meeting.

Contact: Steve Culliford, Democratic Services Email:  steve.culliford@southandvale.gov.uk 

Link: This is a virtual meeting - you can watch it here

Items
No. Item

85.

Apologies for absence

To record apologies for absence. 

Minutes:

None

86.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 120 KB

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 5 February 2021. 

Minutes:

RESOLVED: to adopt as a correct record the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 5 February 2021 and agree that the Chair signs them as such. 

87.

Declarations of interest

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

Minutes:

Councillor Judy Roberts declared a personal interest in the item on funding the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust (minute Ca.95 refers). 

88.

Urgent business and chair's announcements

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.

Minutes:

None

89.

Public participation

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

Minutes:

Three members of the public had registered to speak at the meeting. 

 

(1)      Tom Christophers, chairman of Cumnor Parish Council, was unable to attend the meeting.  Instead he submitted a written statement in support of the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust project.  The statement was circulated to all Cabinet members. 

 

(2)      Bob Colenutt, chair of the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust, spoke in support of the trust’s project. 

 

(3)      Jon Bloxsom, the development manager of the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust project, did not make a statement but made himself available to answer any questions. 

 

The chair thanked the members of the public for their statements. 

90.

Recommendations from other committees

To consider any recommendations to Cabinet from other committees. 

Minutes:

Cabinet noted that the Scrutiny Committee had met on 9 March 2021 to discuss a joint local plan in public session, and the Covid-19 leisure support package in exempt session.  The committee had not made any formal recommendations to Cabinet but made comments to the Cabinet members present on these subjects. 

91.

A joint local plan pdf icon PDF 144 KB

To consider the head of planning’s report. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the head of planning’s report on a joint local plan.  This proposed the development of a joint local plan with South Oxfordshire District Council, rather than the two councils working on separate plans. 

 

The Cabinet member for planning saw many advantages of the proposal.  It would allow the councils to work more closely together, share policies where appropriate, and share resources.  There were many practical reasons or doing so.  Both councils’ geography was similar: rural areas with market towns.  It would allow for better planning of Didcot Garden Town and the Science Vale area.  Both councils’ corporate ambitions were similar, and both had declared climate emergencies.  A joint local plan would also save cost, for example the councils had a shared planning policy team. 

 

Cabinet agreed, believing that there were sound planning and practical reasons to develop a joint local plan.  Cabinet was reassured that, if necessary, local policies could be included in a joint plan to reflect local needs. 

 

Legislation allowed the councils to prepare a joint plan.  Cabinet discussed the two methods of doing this:

 

·         Section 28 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 allowed two or more local planning authorities (district councils) to prepare a joint local plan.  The county council in two-tier areas, such as Oxfordshire, could be part of the plan-preparation process but could not be part of the formal decision-making, as this remained the responsibility of the district councils.  Under Section 28, the final, formal decisions at key local plan stages (consultations, publication, submission, adoption) were made either separately by each council or via a voluntary joint committee. 

 

·         Section 29 of the 2004 Act enabled the county council to continue to
have a strategic planning role working with the district councils.  This allowed for the decision-making on a joint local plan to be conferred on a joint committee.  Under section 29, the county council would be a formal partner in the joint committee and therefore would have equal membership on that committee. 

 

Given the context of development plan making across Oxfordshire, with a strategic plan (the Oxfordshire 2050 Plan) already underway, and a shared management and policy team already in place for South Oxfordshire and the Vale, Cabinet considered that a joint local plan should be prepared in accordance with section 28 of the Act.  This would involve either formal decisions at key local plan stages being made separately by each council or via a voluntary joint committee.  Cabinet considered that this should be recommended to Council as the best method to develop a joint local plan.  Scrutiny Committee had preferred the section 28 option also.  Cabinet considered that officers should be authorised to prepare the detailed arrangements.  Cabinet members asked officers to manage the risks by identifying them in the risk register and by preparing contingencies and mitigations should the risks materialise. 

 

RECOMMENDED to Council on 24 March 2021 to:

 

(a)     agree, subject to the agreement of South Oxfordshire District Council, the preparation and production of a Joint Local Plan  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

92.

Budget monitoring pdf icon PDF 294 KB

To consider the interim head of finance’s report. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the interim head of finance’s budget monitoring report.  This looked at the council’s budget position for the period April 2020 to January 2021.  This showed both a revenue and capital programme underspend, as detailed in the report’s public and exempt appendices.  During the period, the council’s main priority had been to provide a strong local response to the Covid-19 pandemic.  This had resulted in the diversion of resources and the consequent reduced work on other priorities. 

 

Cabinet thanked officers for their work during these unprecedented times. 

 

RESOLVED:to note the contents of the interim head of finance’s report to Cabinet on 17 March 2021. 

93.

Exclusion of the public, including the press

To consider whether to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business under Part 1 of Schedule 12A Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 on the grounds that:

(i)        it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1-7 Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

(ii)       the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

Minutes:

RESOLVED: to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business under Part 1 of Schedule 12A Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 on the grounds that:

(i)        it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1-7 Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

(ii)       the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

94.

Covid-19 leisure support package

To consider the report of the acting deputy chief executive – place. 

Minutes:

Cabinet made a recommendation to Council to approve a package of Covid-19 leisure support. 

95.

Oxfordshire Community Land Trust: affordable housing funding

To consider the report of the acting deputy chief executive – place. 

Minutes:

Cabinet made a recommendation to Council to support the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust project to provide affordable homes in Cumnor. 

96.

Budget monitoring

To note the confidential appendices of the interim head of finance’s report. 

Minutes:

Cabinet noted the exempt appendices to the interim head of finance’s budget monitoring report. 

 

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