Public addresses and questions to the Leader or other Board Members received in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.11 and 11.12 and not related to matters for decision on this agenda.

The request to speak accompanied by the full text of the address or question must be received by the Head of Law and Governance by 5.00 pm on Tuesday 1 December 2015.

The briefing note will contain the text of addresses and questions submitted by the deadline, and written responses where available.

A total of 45 minutes is available for both public speaking items. Responses are included in this time. Up to five minutes is available for each public address or question.

Council heard addresses from members of the public. The full text of the addresses where these were delivered as submitted; and questions and responses are in the supplement to these minutes.

1. Judith Harley, on behalf of herself, Nigel Gibson and Sarah Lazenby who had submitted addresses on the same topic, addressed Council about Save Temple Cowley Pools Campaign’s request to stop demolition of the building.

The Chief Executive and Councillor Turner reiterated the Council’s role as freeholder of the site and referred to the response set out in the supplement.

2. Dr Judy Webb, of the Friends of Lye Valley, addressed Council about a petition to ask Councillors, should they decide not to develop the space at Warren Crescent Site 60, to preserve it as Local or Public Access Green Space.

Councillor Hollingsworth responded that the planning committee would determine the extant planning application its merits and he appreciated the important points about the Lye Valley regardless of the outcome of the application.

3. Colin Aldridge, of East Oxford Community Centre, addressed Council asking them to put the management of EOCC back in the hands of the community and help them improve the centre.

Councillor Simm responded that community centres must meet the community’s needs and be well used, and be well maintained and improved to good standards, and outlined the plans for the East Oxford centre. She said that consultation on the draft community centre strategy would start shortly.

4. Benny Wenda, of the Free West Papua campaign, addressed Council thanking members for the ongoing support shown for the campaign.

Councillor Price thanked Benny Wenda for his speech and conveyed the good wishes of the Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP.

5. Nigel Gibson, Save Temple Cowley Pools campaign, asked the Board Member ‘Will you recognise your core strategy policy obligations under CS21 and tell Catalyst to defer demolition until after a successful planning application for their proposed new development?’

Councillor Turner responded that a written answer was available in the published supplement.

6. Rosemary Harris asked the Board Member ‘Will the Council ensure that Network Rail removes this requirement from its noise insulation package and provide extra acoustic glazing to all affected houses if the operational noise is higher than predicted for non-statutory insulation?’

Councillor Hollingsworth responded that the planning permission includes provisions for noise levels to be predicted in an approved way, then for noise mitigation to be offered where appropriate. They include a requirement to check the performance of noise mitigation measures (including noise insulation) and correct them if found to be defective in construction or performance. Once these provisions are met the conditions of the permission are discharged and the Council could not, therefore, require Network Rail to offer further insulation packages to cover a change in the circumstances of buildings. And since it has approved the noise predictions, as contained within the relevant Noise Scheme of Assessment, it could not require further measures if these proved to be under-estimates. However, our officers see no reason for this situation to occur, given the robustness of those predictions and the adequacy of mitigation measures.

The Lord Mayor thanked those speaking.