To hear questions from the public in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.9 to the Leader or other Board Members of the City Executive Board for which the required notice (1.00pm on Thursday 7 July 2011) and the full wording of the question has been given to the Head of Law and Governance, and to hear responses from those Members.

Four questions were asked by members of the public:

(1)       Question to the Board Member, City Development (Councillor    Colin Cook) from James Rowland

            Student units

“How many new student units have been built since July 2010?  How many of these have been occupied?  Can the figures for each university be provided, and how many net additional student units have been acquired for Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University since 2005?”

Response: The first question requires information from the Annual Monitoring Report 2011 for which data has not yet been collated or analysed.  This data is likely to be available in September.  The AMR 2011 is likely to be taken to the City Executive Board for approval for submission to the Secretary of State in December 2011.  The City Council has no method of monitoring when student rooms are occupied so this question would be best directed to the Universities and colleges.  The City Council is not itself able to monitor when the Universities acquire student accommodation.  This would need to be obtained from the Universities directly.  An exception would be if the acquisition resulted in the need for a planning application (such as a change of use) in which case it would appear in the data required for the AMR 2011 available in September.

(2)       Question to the Board Member, Leisure Services (Councillor Van          Coulter) from Charlotte Barrow

            Competition Standard Swimming Pool consultation

“What’s the detailed evidence for people in Blackbird Leys wanting a new, somewhat colder 25m swimming pool at a different site, when the existing, smaller and warmer pool could be retained?”

Response: We have fully consulted and published the consultation on the proposed pool on the Council’s website.  This information has continually been kept up to date.  Alongside consultation other key factors in the decision making process are; Blackbird Leys pool is a stand alone facility just 482 metres from Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre, it is towards the end of it operational life and not meeting modern day standards (it is a small pool approximately 18 metres long) and it is not fully DDA accessible.  The new proposed pool adjoined to the leisure centre will meet modern day guidance and be accessible to a wider user audience.  The temperature of the new facility will be in line with industry standards and be able to maintain its temperature unlike Temple Cowley Pools which is unable to cope when the external temperature drops.

(3)       Question to the Deputy Leader of the Council (Ed Turner) from SietskeBoeles

            Council Tax Exemptions

“As from December 2010 how many properties were exempt from paying Council Tax due to being solely occupied by full time students, and:

(1)       How many of these were classified as Halls of Residence and how many of these were classified as private properties;

(2)       Has there been a decrease in student exempt Council Tax private properties since December 2009 and if not why;

(3)       Does the Council get a full re-imbursement by central government for this loss of Council Tax.

Response:

Question 1 – As at December 2010 Halls of Residence = 2459.  Student exceptions = 2969.

Question 2 – The number of students has increased which is documented on both the Oxford Brookes University and University of Oxford websites.

Question 3 – Under Council Tax legislation certain properties are exempt from Council Tax i.e. they don’t receive a bill.  Exempt properties include student halls of residence and houses lived in only by full-time students.  As such there is no Council Tax income collected and there is no re-imbursement from central government for this loss.

(4)       Question to the Deputy Leader of the Council (Councillor Ed      Turner) from Floris van den Broecke

“A Freedom of Information (FOI) request obtained from the Oxford City Council earlier this year, revealed that the number of private dwellings exempt from paying Council Tax due to being solely occupied by students went up by nearly 600 between 2004/05 and 2010/11.

Why has this number of student Council Tax exempt dwellings increased despite a great number of purpose built units being constructed for students in order to free up housing for Oxford’s permanent residents?

Can the City Council please tell me why so many dwellings have been lost from the residential housing pool?  This can be done for example by analysing the tax exemption certificates provided by the education establishments supplied to the Council with the number of their students who have been issued with tax exemptions certificates?”

Response: Between 2004/05 and 2010/11 there has been an increase in students which is documented on both the Oxford Brookes University and University of Oxford websites.

Under Council Tax legislation certain properties are exempt from Council Tax i.e. they don’t receive a bill.  Exempt properties include student halls of residence and houses lived in only by full-time students.