There were no declarations or interest.

Purpose: to confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Oxfordshire Growth Board held on 26 September 2017.

The Board confirmed as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Oxfordshire Growth Board held on 26 September 2017

Purpose: to receive communications from the Chair.

There were no announcements.

Members of the public may ask questions of the Chairman of the Growth Board, or address the Growth Board on any substantive item at a meeting, subject to the restrictions set out in the public participation scheme.

The total amount of time allowed for public participation at a meeting shall not exceed 30 minutes unless the Chairman consents to that in the interests of the proper conduct of the business of the Board.

A person speaking to the Board may speak for up to 3 minutes. The Board members may ask questions for clarification.

Asking a question

Questions (in full and in writing) must be received before 5pm on Tuesday 24 October 2017 by the Chief Executive of the host authority. A written or verbal answer will be provided by the Chairman at the meeting. The questioner may ask a supplementary question directly related to either the original question or the reply received.

Addressing the Board

Notice of a wish to address the Board must be received before noon on Friday 27 October 2017 by the Chief Executive of the host authority.

Petitions

Petitions on matters directly relevant to maters in which the Board has powers and duties must be received before 5pm on Tuesday 24 October 2017 by the Chief Executive of the host authority. The representative of the petitioners may speak. Petitions are referred without discussion to the next meeting.

Questions, petitions and notice of addresses should be submitted to the committee secretary at democraticservices@oxford.gov.uk or delivered/ posted to the Chief Executive at Oxford City Council.

In accordance with the public participation scheme the Chair invited those who submitted addresses and questions to speak to the Board.

The Board heard:

• A question submitted on behalf of CPRE Oxfordshire and read by Peter Collins, emphasising the need for public engagement, consultation and accountability in developing the Joint Spatial Plan.
• A question submitted and read out by Colin Thomas, Need not Greed Coalition, emphasising the need for adequate public accountability and transparency in the Joint Spatial Plan process.

Full details of the questions and responses are in the supplement to these minutes.

Report attached.

Purpose: to consider the business case for a Joint Spatial Plan for Oxfordshire.

Recommendations: that the Growth Board recommend to constituent councils:

·                     that they work together to take forward a joint spatial plan; and

·                     within the first stages of the project and in discussion with government, seek to agree the most appropriate  arrangements to take forward a joint plan; and

·                     that the Chief Executives of the Oxfordshire Local Authorities take forward the necessary programme of work to achieve a joint plan.

The Board considered the report and the business case for a Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) for Oxfordshire.

Gordon Mitchell and Adrian Colwell introduced the report and set out the rationale for having a Joint Spatial Plan, namely to provide an Oxfordshire-wide integrated strategic planning framework and supporting evidence base to support sustainable growth across the county, including the planned delivery of the new homes and economic development, and the anticipated supporting infrastructure needed. It was noted that as the JSP would in part replace elements of current local plans that there would be consequent savings that could be reinvested and that the business case had attempted an initial estimate of this although more detailed budget analysis was required.

In discussion the Board noted comments including but not confined to:

• Councillor Cotton was in favour of starting from the basis of a statutory plan as this would give greater control and certainty, and the agreement and the overseeing body should be set up at the outset. He commented however that it was difficult to agree to the process when no funding was agreed and no money available.
• Much of the work required in the initial stages of evidence collection was identical for both the non-statutory or statutory JSP options. Consequently, while the status of the plan must be agreed in a timely manner and legal advice taken into account, this decision point did not prevent the JSP progressing.
• The timetable set out in the report was provisional and dependent on a number of external factors including any agreement of progressing the spatial plan with government and any proposed new NPPF regulations that will be changed upon the conclusions of the current consultation on the calculation of Objectively Assessed Need.
• The costs of preparing the plan, were outlined in the Business case. All councils noted that it was not possible to complete the JSP without adequate additional resources.
• The deficit in infrastructure was holding back growth and a JSP would allow key and major pieces of infrastructure to be planned across district boundaries.

The Board resolved to note the comments and to recommend to constituent councils:

1.    that they work together to take forward a Joint Spatial Plan; and

2.    within the first stages of the project and in discussion with government, seek to agree the most appropriate  arrangements to take forward a Joint Spatial Plan; and

3.    that the Chief Executives of the Oxfordshire Local Authorities take forward the necessary programme of work to achieve a Joint Spatial Plan.

Purpose: to provide a verbal update on the progress of discussions with Government officials on developing a housing and growth (Place based growth) package for Oxfordshire

Recommendation: that the Growth Board notes the progress.

Gordon Mitchell gave an update on the progress of discussions with Government officials on developing a housing and growth (Place based growth) Deal for Oxfordshire. He reported: progress with the discussions with government covering various funding initiatives (HIF, business rates pooling;); in return for commitments from Oxfordshire to promote the growth identified in the SHMA. Gordon reported that there was interest in transferring aspirations into reality; and it was hoped that the government’s commitments might become clear after or shortly before the Budget speech on 22 November. As well as working with government as a delivery partner, it was essential to work with all parts of the county to find an acceptable way to meet the terms and aspirations of any deal.

Kevin Bourner explained the HCA’s position that Oxfordshire was a key area for growth and development and the Agency expected housing to be a key part of the budget’s focus.

Nigel Tipple outlined the discussions with government on productivity including partnership working on innovation in business, skills, and young people.

The Board noted the updates.

Report to follow

Purpose: to set out proposals to government for forming a pilot for an Oxfordshire Business rates pool in 2018/19, including retention of business rates growth in the interests of the county.

Recommendation: that the Growth Board note and endorse the proposals.

The Board considered a report (published after the agenda) setting out the application from the six councils of Oxfordshire to be considered as a pilot for the 100% Business Rates Retention Scheme for 2018-19.

The Board noted that:

·         the proposal had been submitted on 27 October and a decision on the pilot areas would be announced shortly after 22 November;

·         if the bid was successful, additional funding would be distributed via the Growth Board: if unsuccessful then the current pooling arrangements would continue;

·         the pilot was for one year initially and the scheme would have to be reviewed before committing to any extension;

·         Councillor Cotton’s comments that there was a need to be cautious and not overcommit or over-offer.

The Board agreed to formally record its support for the application.

Purpose: to show the video setting out the Oxfordshire 2050 transport vision.

The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4koosxZMmo

Councillor Hudspeth and Bev Hindle introduced the short film, available on YouTube, released to coincide with the launch of the Oxfordshire 2050 transport vision and setting out the aspirations and ideas for delivering transport improvements and innovations to support growth.

The film was played for the Board.

Presentation from Oxfordshire County Council and LEP officers.

Recommendation: that the Growth Board notes the presentation.

Llewelyn Morgan gave a presentation (attached to the minutes) informing the Board about the ‘Living Labs’ project, and an overview of the work already in progress and planned to develop and implement transformative technologies in a synergistic manner through cross-collaboration and cross-fertilisation of ideas both in laboratory and real world situations.

He highlighted the innovation strategy; the Smart Oxford initiative; and existing projects including the Go Ultra Low Oxford project installing and testing on-street electric vehicle charging points, work on autonomous vehicles, and the technological synergy involved in developing a low-cost network of flood detectors.

The Board noted the presentation.

A representative of OXLEP will then provide a verbal update on:

·         Transformative Technologies SIA

·         Programme Delivery

·         Other relevant matters

Nigel Tipple provided a verbal update on:

• the Transformative Technologies Science and Innovation Audit (SIA) process, currently in the evidence gathering stage, the outcome of which was to support innovation in four areas of new technology and allied disciplines to lead to commercial applications.
• the status of the four Innovation Centres agreed as part of the City Deal programme:

·         Culham Advanced Manufacturing Hub is near capacity

·         Begbrooke Innovation Accelerator is at about 80% occupancy.

·         Harwell Innovation Hub is nearing completion

·         Oxford Bioescalator (Churchill Hospital/ Old Road Oxford) is nearing completion

Growth Board members and officers may verbally update the Board on progress on matters previously before the Board for consideration, listed in the work plan, or relevant to the Board’s future decisions.

This is for the sharing of information and no decisions will be taken.

Councillor Price noted the need for a formal relationship between the Growth Board and Swindon to discuss the impacts of new housing, industry and infrastructure in the south west of the county and the proposals for an Oxford-Cambridge link. Proposals for this would be brought back to a future meeting.

Dates for future meetings are:

30 November 2017

1 February 2018

27 March 2018

11 June 2018

All meetings are to be held 2.00pm to 4.00 pm in the Oxford Town Hall, Old Library.

The Board noted the dates of future meetings.