Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Meeting Room 2, Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, OX14 3JE

Contact: Democratic Services Officer  07895 213820

Items
No. Item

36.

Chair's announcements

To receive any opening announcements from the chair.

Minutes:

The chair, Councillor Katherine Foxhall, ran through housekeeping matters and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

37.

Apologies for absence

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

Minutes:

There were no apologies from the committee, all members were present. It was noted that Cabinet member for Finance and Property Assets (Vale), Councillor Andy Crawford sent his apologies. Councillor Bethia Thomas, Leader of the Council (Vale) was present in person to introduce the report on Land Acquisition in the absence of Councillor Crawford.

38.

Minutes of the last meeting pdf icon PDF 147 KB

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Joint Scrutiny Committee minutes of the meeting held on 30 September 2024.

Minutes:

Resolved:

The minutes of the meeting on 30 September 2024 were agreed by committee as a correct record, and the chair would sign them as such.

39.

Declaration of interests

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, other registrable interests and non-registrable interests or any conflicts of interest in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

 

Minutes:

The chair asked committee to provide any declaration of interests at the beginning of each agenda item.

40.

Urgent business

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.

Minutes:

None.

41.

Public participation

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

Minutes:

None.

42.

Work schedule and dates for Joint scrutiny meetings pdf icon PDF 82 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 Please note, although the dates are confirmed, the items under consideration are subject to being withdrawn, added to or rearranged without further notice.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:

Committee noted their work programme which was under regular review and development.

43.

Future Oxfordshire Partnership (FOP) review pdf icon PDF 162 KB

Joint Scrutiny Committee will review a paper on the Future Oxfordshire Partnership. (paper to follow)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report on “Future Oxfordshire Partnership refresh and devolution” was introduced by Councillor Bethia Thomas, Leader of the Council (Vale). Also present online was Cabinet member for Finance and Property Assets, Councillor Pieter-Paul Barker (South). Council Leader for South Oxfordshire, Councillor David Rouane, was also present online to assist with questions. The Deputy Chief Executive – Place was present in the meeting as lead officer.

 

Councillors Cooke, Robb and Rawlins were on the Future Oxfordshire Partnership (FOP) scrutiny panel and one of the members asked about whether this was considered a conflict of interest. It was advised by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services that this was not a barrier to discussions today as the discussion would be broader with no decision making involved. Although expressing strong views would not be advisable, these members would provide valuable experience to the discussion, as long as they did not pre-determine any future decisions. The focus for members was the discussion from the perspective of a member of the district council.

 

The Vale Council Leader introduced the paper with some background to the review of the remit of the FOP and potential changes from central government on devolution, noting that this was unknown but something to be aware of. Leaders would consider advice from members and provide a response on endorsing a revised remit of the FOP. Changes to the Terms of Reference will require the formal approval of councils involved. The proposed changes included a reduced scope and reduced number of sub-groups. The Vale Council Leader considered it to be important that the FOP did not overrule the sovereignty of individual councils and there should be a reduced scope for the avoidance of duplication of work. South Council Leader added that we needed a mechanism for County-wide discussions, and with the unknown situation on devolution, FOP provided a mechanism for these discussions when required. Members were welcomed to ask questions.

·       A member started discussions by asking why we needed to revise the remit. The Vale Leader responded that there was a list of items that were felt not appropriate, and we should reduce the list and create more focus. It was felt there could be some overlap already with other groups (on topics such as climate). The South Council Leader explained that for some projects e.g. Local area energy plan (LAEP) and PAZCO, the reporting was through FOP, it was the democratic oversight. The Vale Cabinet Leader added that the FOP had a sensible structure for discussions on devolution with council leaders already involved.

·       In response to a member asking about potentially becoming a combined authority, it was responded that there would be a White Paper on this in future and that at County scale we were unlikely to become a combined authority. The Head of Legal and Democratic Services added that we could not predict at this stage. The focus of this report was to consider how we ensure the Terms of Reference (ToR) reflect what was needed.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

44.

Exclusion of the public

To consider whether to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following items of business under Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended on the grounds that:

(i)     It is likely that there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A, and

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

Minutes:

Resolved:

Joint Scrutiny Committee agreed to exclude the public and the press to consider a confidential report on land acquisition.

45.

Land acquisition

Joint Scrutiny Committee will review a report on council land acquisition (paper to follow).

This item is confidential under Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended on the grounds that:

(i)       It is likely that there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A, and

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

 

Minutes:

Committee considered a confidential report on land acquisition and made recommendations to South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Council Leaders and Cabinets.

 

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