Apologies for absence received from Cllr Sinclair,

Apologies for lateness received from Cllrs Price, Smith, Brown and Hollingsworth.

None received.

None received

None received

None received

Scrutiny Committee report to follow

The Scrutiny report was considered alongside the substantive item minute 91 Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) 2015/16.

Scrutiny Committee report to follow.

The Scrutiny report was considered alongside the substantive item minute 92 Digital Strategy.

None received

The Chief Executive has submitted a report which asks the Board to consider the views of party groups and formulate a response to the Boundary Commission for England’s proposals on parliamentary boundaries in Oxfordshire.

Recommendation: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Agree a response to the initial proposals of the Boundary Commission for England on parliamentary constituencies as they affect Oxfordshire and in drawing up that response to have regard to the comments made by party groups.

The Chief Executive submitted a report which asked the Board to consider the views of party groups and formulate a response to the Boundary Commission for England’s proposals on parliamentary boundaries in Oxfordshire.

The Electoral Services Manager said the number of electors in the proposed boundaries do not accurately reflect the actual number of electors in Oxford as they are based on figures from 1 December 2015. On current numbers, Oxford East should lose a ward rather than gain two.  All political groups had been consulted and their opinions were listed in Appendix 2.

Cllr Price asked whether the Boundary Review will revise its proposals using more up to date figures.  The Electoral Services Manager said that the Boundary Commission had a legal requirement to make their recommendations based on the number of electors on 1 December 2015. The Electoral Commission had made a strong case to government not to use the figures from 1 December 2015 but the decision had been made.

The Electoral Services Manager said that the Boundary. Commission would hold a further 8 week consultation of proposals in late spring. This would be another opportunity for the Board to raise their views.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1. Agree the Labour Group’s response to the initial proposals of the Boundary Commission for England on parliamentary constituencies as they affect Oxfordshire and in drawing up that response to have regard to the comments made by party groups.

The Head of Planning and Regulatory Services has submitted a report which seeks the payment of £500,000 to Oxfordshire County Council towards the costs of the pedestrianisation of Queen Street and to authorise arrangements for Oxford City Council to enter into an agreement with Oxfordshire County Council for this sum.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.            Agree to the expenditure of £500,000 of the CIL Neighbourhood Portion to be paid to Oxfordshire County Council towards the Queen Street pedestrianisation scheme

2.            Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Regeneration & Housing in consultation with the Board Member for Planning and Regulatory Services the power to negotiate and enter into an agreement with Oxfordshire County Council to provide for:

                              I.        The approval of the scope and specification of works and detailed designs having regard to the views of the then members of the West Area Planning Committee  and the Oxford Design Review Panel (and to agree amendments and a programme for implementation),

                            II.        Independent audit of the costs and valuation of works.

                           III.        Payment of up to  £500,000 to Oxfordshire County Council in respect of the execution of the works

                          IV.        Payment terms and conditions

                           V.        Incidental provisions including timing of works and the prior approval of publicity material including site boards and press releases and statements

The Head of Planning and Regulatory Services submitted a report to agree the expenditure of £500,000 to Oxfordshire County Council towards the costs of the pedestrianisation of Queen Street and to delegate to the Executive Director of Regeneration & Housing authority to enter into an agreement with Oxfordshire County Council for this sum.

The Planning Policy & Specialist Services Manager presented the report. He explained that the City’s contribution would be up to £500,000 He said that since writing the report Oxfordshire County Council have analysed the results on their consultation on the measures needed to pedestrianise Queen Street.  The County Council may choose to temporarily pedestrianise Queen street while other matters were resolved. He was of the view that if the County Council choose this option that the City Council should not contribute to the scheme.

Cllr Tanner said he agreed with the City Council contributing to the scheme on condition that complete pedestrianisation of Queen St goes ahead. 

He asked that recommendation 2 be amended to read  “Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Regeneration & Housing in  consultation with the Board Member for Planning and Regulatory Services.”

The City Executive Board resolves to:

1.     Agree to the expenditure of £500,000 of the CIL Neighbourhood Portion to be paid to Oxfordshire County Council towards the Queen Street pedestrianisation scheme

2.     Delegate authority to the Executive Director of Regeneration & Housing in consultation with the Board Member for Planning and Regulatory Services the power to negotiate and enter into an agreement with Oxfordshire County Council to provide for:

              I.        The approval of the scope and specification of works and detailed designs having regard to the views of the then members of the West Area Planning Committee and the Oxford Design Review Panel (and to agree amendments and a programme for implementation),

            II.        Independent audit of the costs and valuation of works.

           III.        Payment of up to £500,000 to Oxfordshire County Council in respect of the execution of the works

          IV.        Payment terms and conditions

           V.        Incidental provisions including timing of works and the prior approval of publicity material including site boards and press releases and statements

Confirmed that the contributions may only be used towards the permanent scheme, not used for any of the temporary solution.

The Head of Planning and Regulatory has submitted a report which outlines the Annual Monitoring Report for approval.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.    Approve the Annual Monitoring Report 2015/16 for publication.

2.    Authorise the Head of Planning and Regulatory Services to make any necessary additional minor corrections not materially affecting the document prior to publication.

Cllr Hollingsworth arrived at the meeting.

The Head of Planning and Regulatory submitted a report which detailed the Annual Monitoring Report for approval.

The Planning Policy& Specialist Services Manager presented the report.  He explained that the report was produced every year and showed which planning policies are working well and which may need a review. This report would help inform the policies in the new Oxford Local Plan 2036.

Highlights of the monitoring report are:

·         Overall housing numbers are looking good, with 383 homes completed.  In the 10 years since the start of the Core Strategy 3,843 homes have been built, which is 157 less that the target, which is very good especially considering the recession in the middle of the period.  We expect a spike in the next few years with new developments such as Barton Park Littlemore and Northern Gateway coming forward.

·         Affordable housing numbers are looking good , with 164 homes completed, which includes 107 homes provided in through the City Council’s own house building programme

·         In terms of students living outside of university provided accommodation.  The University of Oxford is below the 3,000 student target but Oxford Brookes University is above it at 3,747. Representatives of Oxford Brookes University came to the Scrutiny Housing Panel last week and explained their position and have issued a strategy to resolve the issue.

Cllr Gant, Chair of the Scrutiny Committee presented the Scrutiny report. He said the Scrutiny Committee had discussed the matter of the number of student living outside provided accommodation and the range of options that officers and the universities were considering to reduce the number of students living outside of student accommodation in the city.

Cllr Hollingsworth, Board Member for Planning and Regulatory explained his draft responds to the Scrutiny recommendations. He felt that in light of his current traffic woes at getting to the meeting, that indicator 33 Traffic Growth at Inner and Outer Cordons was definitely worth retaining to inform the Council on where the pinch points in the city are.

The Planning Policy& Specialist Services Manager said that since the report was published, officers have calculated the city’s housing land supply.  Oxford has 6.3 years supply of housing sites which is above the national target of 5 years.  It is proposed to add the relevant table into the Annual Monitoring Report when it is published.

Cllr Turner noted that the Council’s affordable housing figures were in complete contrast to many others local authorities.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.    Approve the Annual Monitoring Report 2015/16 for publication.

2.    Authorise the Head of Planning and Regulatory Services to make any necessary additional minor corrections not materially affecting the document prior to publication.

3.    Add the Oxford Housing Land supply table to the Annual Monitoring Report before it is published.

Cllr Price arrived at the meeting

The Head of Business Improvement has submitted a report which seeks approval for a Digital Strategy and its implementation.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to

1.    Adopt the Digital Strategy and associated action plan as set out at Appendices 1 and 2.

2.    Delegate authority to the Head of Business Improvement in consultation with the Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services the annual review of the action plan

Cllr Price took the Chair

Cllr Turner left the meeting

Cllr Brown arrived at the meeting

The Head of Business Improvement presented the Digital Strategy report which sought approval for a Digital Strategy and its implementation. She said that since the re-development of the Council’s website, 32% of customers now contact the council online.

Cllr Hollingsworth said that in regards to Scrutiny recommendation3 – improving the use of the online planning service:  The recommendation is included in the action plan of the Statement of Community Involvement 2015.

Cllr Price said it was never good to have actions listed as “ongoing” he asked that officers review the action plan and put a specific date next to the actions that were listed as “on-going”.

Cllr Price said the strategy did not clearly deal with the ways to encourage people who are not confident IT users to use online services. He felt this was what Scrutiny’s recommendation 4 – Access to Council’s Website in community centres was all about. Cllr Price recommended that recommendation 4 be agreed and that the Council’s Communities’ team explore what IT services could be provided in community centres.

Cllr Simm felt that recommendation 4 was not helpful as the community centre strategy had been agreed and there had been no mention during the consultation that IT access at community centres was desired. There was a distinction between the large community centre hub type and smaller centres managed by volunteers.  She recommended that the Board ask the Communities team to scope what IT services were already available in different communities. The Communities Team could report their findings to CEB if needed.

Cllr Hollingsworth said that the work should expand to include wherever there is a public assessable computer– not just community centres but shops and libraries.

Cllr Brown said online access is not just about our buildings, but whether people access online services in their homes.

The Chief Executive said the work needed to be a multi organisational study. It’s not just about having access to a computer but being able to use and navigate online systems.  Libraries provide computer training sessions and public computer.  He suggested that the Council audit what is available in different communities and work out where the gaps are.

The City Executive Board resolved to

1.    Adopt the Digital Strategy and associated action plan as set out at Appendices 1 and 2.

2.    Delegate authority to the Head of Business Improvement in consultation with the Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services the annual review of the action plan

Agree that a scoping exercise be commissioned to determine what publicly accessible computer services are available in different communities of the city; and work out where the gaps are.

Minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2016

Recommendation: The City Executive Board NOTES the minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2016 as a true and accurate record.

The Board resolved to APPROVE the minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2016 as a true and accurate record.