Proposed by Councillor Gotch

Liberal Democrat motion

Council wishes to live up to its green aspirations.

Council encourages officers to give consideration to incorporating as far as possible suitable ‘green’ aspirations into the development of policies in the Local Plan.

Examples of the type of matters to which due consideration may be given could include: improving air quality; electric charging provision; and measures to ensure high quality development.

The Lord Mayor proposed and Council agreed to take this as the second motion after the break and public speaking.

Councillor Gotch, seconded by Councillor Landell Mills, proposed his submitted motion, as amended by him as proposer after publication of the agenda and as set out in the briefing note.

The Monitoring Officer tabled advice (attached as a supplement to the minutes) setting out reasons why the motion before Council should not be accepted. In response to a challenge by Councillor Gotch she explained she presented her advice following his confirmation that the amended motion should be presented for debate.

Cllr Hollingsworth proposed an amendment at the meeting, and tabled for all members, and seconded by Councillor Turner.

After debate and on being put to the vote, the amendment was declared carried.

After debate and on being put to the vote, the amended motion was agreed.

Original motion – as proposed and amended by Councillor Gotch

Council wishing to live up to its green aspirations requests that CEB members consider the following measures to apply to all housing schemes for 20 or more dwellings, private or public, with officers encouraging developers to incorporate:

1.         District heating schemes to be included, lowering the carbon footprint substantially compared to all dwellings [ and other buildings ]  having separate boilers.

2.         Electricity generating solar panels to all dwellings [ or block of dwellings ] and extensive external electricity charging points ,  to be provided .

3.         Whole house ventilation wherever noise or air pollution levels are high.

4.         Higher standard factory-built structures – delivered to site faster and cheaper than by conventional building methods.

5.         Site planning and extensive landscaping – particularly with trees – to minimise the impact of noise and air pollution sources and maximise solar gain.

Points 2 – 5 should apply also to projects with 3 – 19 dwellings.

Council requests offices to monitor the effectiveness of encouraging developers to adopt the measures outlined above, and report annually to Council - in a simple format.

Amendment – as proposed and tabled by Councillor Hollingsworth

Replace first paragraph with:

This Council in reflecting its long-standing commitment to high environmental standards in its planning policies, and noting that many such measures were outlined in the Preferred Options consultation in 2017, requests that the CEB in preparing the final draft of the Oxford Local Plan 2036, subject to the proposals being compliant with the requirements in the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF 2018) and where they are not more properly part of the requirements of the Building Regulations, considers whether the following might be appropriate as the basis for inclusion as policies either in the Local Plan or in the Corporate Strategy or other similar document:

Leave points 1 to 5

Delete the line beginning “Points 2-5 should apply…”

Replace final paragraph with:

Council further requests that where any such policies are adopted, whether it be in the Local Plan or in the Council’s Corporate Strategy, or in any other similar document, that data is collated and reported annually in a simple format.

Motion as adopted

Council resolved to adopt the following motion, as amended:

This Council in reflecting its long-standing commitment to high environmental standards in its planning policies, and noting that many such measures were outlined in the Preferred Options consultation in 2017, requests that the CEB in preparing the final draft of the Oxford Local Plan 2036, subject to the proposals being compliant with the requirements in the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF 2018) and where they are not more properly part of the requirements of the Building Regulations, considers whether the following might be appropriate as the basis for inclusion as policies either in the Local Plan or in the Corporate Strategy or other similar document:

1.            District heating schemes to be included, lowering the carbon footprint substantially compared to all dwellings [ and other buildings ]  having separate boilers.

2.            Electricity generating solar panels to all dwellings [ or block of dwellings ] and extensive external electricity charging points ,  to be provided .

3.            Whole house ventilation wherever noise or air pollution levels are high.

4.            Higher standard factory-built structures – delivered to site faster and cheaper than by conventional building methods.

5.            Site planning and extensive landscaping – particularly with trees – to minimise the impact of noise and air pollution sources and maximise solar gain.

Council further requests that where any such policies are adopted, whether it be in the Local Plan or in the Council’s Corporate Strategy, or in any other similar document, that data is collated and reported annually in a simple format.

Councillor Goff left the meeting after this item.