Agenda item

Asking a question and addressing the Partnership
Questions or requests to make an address (in full and in writing) must be received by 5pm on Wednesday, 20 September 2023three clear working days before the Future Oxfordshire Partnership meeting.

Questions and addresses should be no longer than one side of A4 paper in Arial 12 font. The address or question will be circulated to the Partnership and public speakers will be invited to speak at the 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. The Chair will have discretion to manage the public participation procedure as they see appropriate. Questions and notice of addresses must be submitted to futureoxfordshirepartnership@southandvale.gov.uk

Note: This meeting may be recorded for live broadcast. 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 full text as submitted and the written response to the question asked below can be found here.

George Curtis on behalf of Bioabundance expressed the concern that the draft Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan, (SEP) failed to prioritise the overriding need for policies to minimise carbon emissions and to properly monitor the county’s progress towards future wellbeing and sustainability.

The draft SEP introduction indicated that there was a heightened awareness of the imperatives around the transition to net zero carbon and that economic growth as measured by Gross Value Added, (GVA) was an unsatisfactory indicator of effective local prosperity, but the rest of the document gave precedence to traditional ‘Economic Growth’. There was no framework within the SEP to balance the complexities and sometimes competing priorities of the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision and the argument was expressed that zero carbon could only be achieved if work to deliver the outcomes of the Pathways to a Zero Carbon Oxfordshire work predominated over the other nine strategies.

There had been an opportunity for Oxfordshire to use globally relevant 21^st century economic principles such as Doughnut Economics to measure progress, but the overriding principles of wellbeing and zero carbon had not been reflected in the SEP’s section on measuring progress.

The Oxfordshire councils were asked to support the creation of a Strategic Economic Partnership for Oxfordshire which would be a cross sector, multiple stakeholder community place based partnership connecting into existing activity and networks with the purpose of generating an economic strategy that meets everyone’s needs within the means of the living planet.

Concern was expressed that the Future Oxfordshire Partnership was only asked to note the SEP draft and that there was a conflict between obligations of council Leaders to plan for the wellbeing of future generations and the obligations of council leaders as directors of OxLEP.

The Future Oxfordshire Partnership was asked the following questions and the response given by the Chair is set out below.

1.     What further evidence of climate change did decision makers need to justify setting the wellbeing of future generations as the over-riding top priority in the Strategic Economic Plan?

Response: The Partnership fully appreciated the importance of addressing climate change to future generations and agreed that this should be taken into account by OxLEP in the drafting of the Strategic Economic Plan.

2.     What legal and material influence does the Strategic Economic Plan have on Local Plans?

Response: The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which had the status of guidance and not legislation, required Local Plans to set out a clear economic vision and strategy which positively and proactively encouraged sustainable economic growth, having regard to Local Industrial Strategies and other local policies for economic development and regeneration.  In this context new Local Plans in Oxfordshire would need to have regard to the Strategic Economic Plan when it is was finalised. In addition, many district councils had already written their own local economic plans and these would also need to be had regard to.

3.     Why was the Strategic Economic Plan being rushed through for adoption by OxLEP in advance of the central government changes to LEP funding and devolution of responsibility for Strategic Economic Plans to local authorities?

Response: The Strategic Economic Plan process led by OxLEP commenced in February 2023 supported by SQW with a review of existing strategies followed by an open call for evidence, stakeholder interviews, and 7 public ½ day workshops held across the county between March and June. It has been supported throughout by a senior officer working group with representatives drawn from all Oxfordshire Local Authorities, Universities, FE College engagement and HM Government representation.

Following the workshops and evidence gathering process, OxLEP’s consultants SQW prepared a first working draft in August and then following initial comment from the Officer working group prepared Version 2 which was circulated to all stakeholders, OxLEP Board and Sub-Groups, Future Oxfordshire Partnership and Future Oxfordshire Partnership Scrutiny, all registered workshop participants, Business Representative Organisations and MPs on the 12/13th September. Following consideration at Board and the Partnership, OxLEP would review any further comments during October and early November before preparing a final draft for consideration at the OxLEP Board in December.

4.     How would local authorities and the Future Oxfordshire Partnership take advantage of the opportunity in April 2024 for local leadership and local residents to determine their own economic strategies rather than defer to the vested interests of business led OxLEP?

Response: Guidance for the integration of Local Enterprise Partnership, (LEP) functions into local authorities was issued during August 2023 and the development of the future model for the delivery of current LEP functions was at an early stage of development. The August guidance stated that further specific guidance on business representation and local economic planning would be issued by January 2024.