There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee is asked to elect a Chair for the Council year 2016/17.

The Chair must be a Scrutiny Councillor from one of the opposition groups.

The Committee resolved to elect Councillor Gant as Chair for the Council year 2017-18.

The Committee is asked to elect a Vice-Chair for the Council year 2016/17.

The Vice-Chair must be a Scrutiny Councillor and can be from any political group.

The Committee resolved to elect Councillor Chapman as Vice-Chair for the Council year 2017-18.

Minutes from 2 May 2017

Recommendation: That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 May 2017 be APPROVED as a true and accurate record.

The Committee resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 2 May 2017 as a true and accurate record.

The Chair introduced this item. He said this was an opportunity for the Scrutiny Committee to make recommendations to the City Executive Board to inform their decision to approve the Oxford Local Plan 2036 Preferred Options Document for consultation. He explained that the discussion should focus on establishing that the consultation document was fit for purpose and presented a suitable range of options for the public to consider.  The Committee would have further opportunity to discuss the detail of the individual policy proposals.

The following members of the public addressed the Committee:

Jon Ody (representative for the National Bargee Travellers Association – NBTA) expressed his view that the assessment for the needs of travellers described in section 2.3 of the consultation document did not comply with the recent legislation and government guidance. He proposed some revisions to the recommendations in section 2.3(ii) and tabled an alternative Option D.  A copy of the material submitted by Mr Ody is attached as an appendix to these minutes.

Sam Dent reiterated the points made by Mr Ody and expressed her concern that the fact that the options contained in the consultation document were potentially non-compliant indicated that, despite the previous assurances given at Full Council in 2016, the views of the boating community had not been considered fully by the team working on the Local Plan consultation document.

Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Board Member for Planning and Regulatory gave an undertaking to review the consultation document in regard to the points raised by the public and to respond in detail at the City Executive Board meeting. He emphasised that option A was the preferred option and that options B and C were alternative options.  The preferred option was for a capacity based policy that applies similar principles to planning applications for new residential moorings that already apply to bricks and mortar. 

The Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services; the Planning Policy and Design, Conservation and Trees Manager; and a Principal Planner attended the meeting to present the detail of the Oxford Local Plan 2036 Preferred Options Document and to answer questions from the Committee.

The Committee commented that consultation materials needed to be clear and concise, specifically in respect of:

·         Seeking views on the mix of housing and employment sites in the city.

·         Emphasising that social housing is the only category of affordable housing that is genuinely affordable to many people in the city.

The Board Member agreed to circulate drafts of the public consultation documents to scrutiny members on the proviso that they would have the opportunity to comment on but not re-write the material.

The Committee conducted a lengthy and comprehensive review of the policy options detailed consultation document.  The Board Member and planning officers highlighted the more significant changes and contentious issues. The Committee welcomed the Council putting the various new proposals out for public discussion and sought assurances on a number of points. Their discussion included, but was not limited to, the following issues:

·         A final  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Meetings are scheduled as followed:

Scrutiny Committee

All meetings start at 6.00 pm.

Standing Panels (all dates and times provisional)

Housing Standing Panel – 10 July 2017, 5.00pm

Finance Standing Panel – 6 July 2017, 5.30pm

Shareholder Standing Panel – 13 July 2017, 5.30pm

The Committee noted the schedule for future meetings.

The Chair thanked the Board Member for Planning & Regulatory Services and the planning officers for attending the meeting and for their clear and concise distillation of the complex and detailed issues pertaining to the Local Plan.

In closing the Chair welcomed the new members of the Committee and thanked them for their contribution to the meeting.