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 Thursday 18 July 2024.  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 futureoxfordpartnership@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.

Kevin Jacob, Senior Democratic Services Officer, Future Oxfordshire Partnership read out the following question from Councillor Richard Parker on behalf of Shirburn Parish Council:

Shirburn Parish Council (SPC) is a key stakeholder in the Watlington Relief Road (WRR) scheme and the parish is severely impacted by the proposed project.

The proposed WRR does not have planning consent and the application lodged by Oxfordshire County Council under Ref R3.0010/24 is the subject of a significant Reg 25 Request and in itself will require further public consultation.

SPC are therefore particularly concerned to note within the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal: Update at the End of Quarter 4 2023/24 at Para 3.2 “Scheme Delivery update and Risk Management” and Para 3.2.4 that there is reference to the WRR and that a planning decision is anticipated later this year.

There does not appear to be any minuted previous discussion on the proposed WRR for which there is no planning approval and the scheme even if approved cannot be constructed before 31st March 2025 at which point funding via DLUHC will expire.

The Future Oxfordshire Partnership is being asked to note a number of schemes which do have planning permission, or which are not dependant on planning permission and some that have identified a step change in housing delivery, and which are competing for funding and it therefore appears to SPC that the FOP Scrutiny Panel are being asked to accept a significant risk for an unconsented scheme.

There is no transparency as to why this scheme has appeared before the Panel nor any updated and current construction cost to compare with the budgeted cost. The current Annexe 1 HGD presented to the Committee Meeting on the 23 July 2024 shows no “Procurement Contract” has been signed and that the “Appoint Contractor” is to “tbc” whereas the same Annexe presented to the last Committee Meeting showed a “Procurement Contract” signed in March 2022 and the “Appoint Contractor” in October 2023.

Shirburn Parish Council request that the Panel investigates the WRR proposal carefully as this is an unconsented and uncosted scheme taking funding from other consented schemes in the County.

Verbal response given at the meeting.

The Quarter 4 report provides an update on all of the schemes that are wholly, or part funded by the Housing & Growth Deal.  Watlington Relief Road has been in the programme since 2020 so the report provides an update on this as at the end of March 2024.  It is part funded through the Housing & Growth Deal so only the H&GD element would need to be spent by 31 March 2025. 

The report notes that the scheme is subject to a planning decision later in 2024 and that:

3.2.4    The planning decision for Watlington Relief Road is anticipated later this year.  Work is ongoing to assess the impact of this and the ongoing deliverability of the scheme.

3.2.5     A final update on the schemes will be shared with Future Oxfordshire Partnership as part of the report for Quarter 1 of 2024/2025 in September 2024.

Pending the outcome of the planning decision, Oxfordshire County Council is currently assessing the impact of this on the deliverability of the scheme as well as updates to other schemes in the programme where there is on-going activity and will agree updates through its governance process. 

To clarify that in relation to the procurement process for the Watlington Relief Road, reference to a contractor meant the procurement of a design consultant to fully design the scheme. This had taken place whereas a building contractor has not yet been appointed.

A final version of the question and response can be found here.