The Head of Housing Services submitted a report which sought approval for the marketing and sale of the freehold of 156 Walton Street on the open market and the use of the resulting receipt to purchase additional affordable homes for households in need.

Cllr Rowley, Board Member for Housing presented the report.  He said this was a one off decision to sell off a council house in an expensive area to buy housing in other areas.  The property is vacant and run down and is worth a lot of money.

The money from the sale will go towards buying housing in Oxford. It will be rented at the local housing allowance rate to provide affordable housing

A further report will be submitted to the Board in July 2017.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Approve in the disposal of the freehold of 156 Walton Street and delegate authority to the Head of Housing to approve the actual terms following a marketing exercise.

2.    Note that a further report will be submitted to a future CEB setting out the preferred route for purchasing the additional properties once options and the most expedient route have been fully understood.

The Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services submitted a report which sought approval to join Magdalen College and Thames Water in the submission of a planning application for the proposed South Oxford Science Village at Grenoble Road, to fund the determination of the application including pursuing any appeal processes that may ultimately be necessary

Cllr Bob Price, Board Member for Corporate Strategy and Economic Development presented the report.  He said the first instalment of the money had been budgeted for and this report was requesting another $222,000 for the next phase of the application process.

Cllr Turner suggested the Board try and foresee potential future project costs during the budget process to avoid mid-term budget requests.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Delegate authority to the  Executive Director, Sustainable City, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to join Magdalen College and Thames Water in the submission of a planning application for the South Oxford Science Village and, if necessary, to pursue the application at appeal.

2.    Approve pursuing the South Oxford Science Village site through the South Oxfordshire Local Plan process, including examination; and if necessary, through a planning appeal or call-in inquiry.

Give project approval for the sum of up to £220,000 representing the Council’s share of the costs in accordance with paragraph 4.5 of the Council’s constitution to cover additional technical studies and a planning application, and a potential call-in inquiry or appeal. This is in addition to the approved current budget provision of £560,000, which covers promoting the scheme through the Local Plan, and provides the basis for a potential planning application.

The report will recommend that the City Executive Board endorse Fusion Lifestyle’s Annual Service Plan for the management of the Council’s leisure facilities for 2017/18.

The Head of Community Services submitted a report which endorsed Fusion Lifestyle’s 2017/18 Annual Service Plan for the continuous development, management and operation of leisure services in Oxford– as recommended by the Leisure Partnership Board.

The Head of Community Services outlined the background of the service plan.  He said the leisure centres are very busy and there are challenges for Fusion around wear and tear and cleanliness.

Cllr Smith, Board Member for Leisure, Parks and Sport presented the report.  She outlined the focus areas for the following year:

·         To increase participation by 5%;

·         To reduce carbon emissions by 5% each year for example by replacing light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs and to buy a pool cover for the Hinksey Pool.  However there are logistics issues about the shape of the pool. 

·         To promote free swimming classes for the under 17s. We plan to review the timetable for swim school classes with Fusion officers to implement this.

·         A crèche facility at Ferry Leisure Centre is also a priority.

Cllr Smith thanked the Leisure and Performance Manager for all her hard work managing the Fusion contract.

Cllr Price said the usage targets looked extremely challenging; how realistic are they especially the 12,000 increase in BME visits? The Head of Community Services said Fusion has a good track record which does suggest they will achieve them. They had agreed the targets so they must be fairly confident they can meet them. 

Cllr Hollingsworth said there were limitations on collecting data. Are we trying to get existing users to attend more frequently or new users starting?  It is not mentioned in the report.  The Head of Community Services said more work was needed to improve data capture of usage figures, particularly at the Ferry Leisure Centre.

Cllr Turner asked about the healthy options in the vending machines. Cllr Smith said it had been piloted at the Leys Leisure Centre and when the contract for the café at Ferry ends later this year, we can change the offer in the vending machines. Both healthy and unhealthy foods will be available.

Cllr Kennedy asked about pool maintenance at Hinksey Pool. She said there were maintenance issue that had not been fixed and asked whether it was possible for Fusion to show how they have improved their maintenance schedule. The Head of Community Services apologies for this and said he would look into it.

The Chief Executive said he was happy with customer satisfaction, the Council scored 2^nd out of 22 local authority leisure centres

Cllr Price asked for a progress report on the Horspath Sports village to the Board in September.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Endorse the Fusion Lifestyle Annual Service Plan for 2017/18 as recommended by the Leisure Partnership Board.