The Cabinet will, at its meeting on 16 March 2022, consider a report on the Annual Update of the Council Business Plan. Councillor Susan Brown, Leader and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, Economic Recovery and Partnerships and Caroline Green, Chief Executive have been invited to present the report and answer questions.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet.

Cllr Susan Brown, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Inclusive Growth, Economic Recovery and Partnerships introduced the report, which looked ahead to year three of the four-year Council Strategy. She said that a key aim in the development of this work had been to be realistic with objectives and ensure a narrow focus in order to achieve the Council’s aims – which she felt the document did well.

Cllr Brown provided a short commentary on progress related to each of the four Council priorities and outlined key actions planned to be undertaken. Caroline Green, Chief Executive reiterated that the purpose of the Business Plan was to set out key actions that would be delivered against the Council’s priorities, therefore the list of actions was not exhaustive but focused on key deliverables which resources had been identified for. She added that a number of other projects would be detailed in individual Service Plans, which sat underneath the Business Plan.

The Chief Executive highlighted that the Council delivered against the majority of its plans last year. She said that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were being reviewed and a separate report was due to be presented to the Scrutiny Committee’s Finance and Performance Panel in the near future.

The Committee raised a number of points, including:

·         Links with other strategies/plans – a concern was raised that there appeared to be mismatches between the Council’s Business Plan and Economic Strategy. Cllr Brown advised that a number of strategies/plans fell out of the Business Plan, including the Oxford Economic Strategy and the City Centre Action Plan; these were referenced in the report. She added that in her view the Business Plan and Oxford Economic Strategy were linked and addressed the same priorities; and that the Committee would have the opportunity to consider the Oxford Economic Strategy in the not too distant future.

·         Growth – in response to comments, Cllr Brown confirmed that Oxford was a world-leading city in a number of industries, which attracted people to the area and the Council had no power to stop that growth. She added that the Council was aiming to encourage sustainable growth by working with local partners and organisations to ensure opportunities were provided for local people; this work would be driven by the Oxford Economic Strategy.

·         Inter-priority tensions – it was pointed out that tensions existed within the document, particularly related to priority one (enable an inclusive economy) and priority two (deliver more, affordable housing). Cllr Brown agreed that there were conflicting priorities and it was difficult to get the balance right.

·         High rent prices – a question was asked related to whether the Council could work with landlords and universities to get some agreement around rent prices to prevent prices being so high. Cllr Brown said it was difficult and the City needed the universities to build as much purpose-built student accommodation as possible in order to make private rented homes available for families and prevent prices being pushed up, which universities were trying to do. She added that the loss of family homes to short-terms lets (e.g. Airbnb) was a key lobbying issue that she raised at every opportunity, as the Council currently only had very limited planning powers. Cllr Brown also advised that the Council needed to look into the building of purpose-built affordable rent properties that was not social housing.

·         Bathing water status – there was a comment that the section related to bathing water status was outdated as the Government had recently closed a consultation on one of the locations. The Chief Executive agreed that this should be updated to reflect the current position.

·         Oxpens– Members asked for a more detailed briefing on Oxpens and reassurance that development would not be at the expense of the existing centre.

·         Public spaces ­– there were concerns related to reconciling the reference to improving public spaces and the fact that OCHL was building on Sandy Lane Recreation Ground. It was suggested that if the Council was serious about protecting open spaces then a commitment should be laid out in the Business Plan. The Chief Executive advised that the purpose of bringing the report to the Committee was to consider progress on work to achieve the objectives set out in the Business Plan, rather than debating the objectives which were taken from the Council Strategy.

·         Citizen engagement in civic and political life – there was a query about how an increase in active engagement in civic and political life would be achieved, as there was no detail in the Business Plan. The Chief Executive advised that there were a number of actions relevant to this objective, but they linked to other priorities so sat in a different place within the document and only appeared once to avoid duplication. She said that consideration needed to be given to how those actions were cross-referenced.

·         Road traffic – it was suggested that the section on page 50 be fleshed out to include actions such as restricting HGVs entering the City during certain hours to improve road safety, in light of the fatal incident the previous week. It was added that recognition of the importance of community consultation on the development of LTN schemes should be included. The Chief Executive highlighted that the Business Plan set out the actions that would have the biggest impact in the coming year and in the case of transport, Connecting Oxford was the strategic focus of delivery, but other policies and interventions were not necessarily excluded.

·         Number of houses – in response to a question related to there being no mention of a precise number of homes that the Council would build over the coming years, Cllr Brown confirmed this would be more appropriate to include in the KPIs report.

·         Urban Forest Strategy – Members asked how far this strategy relied on external funding and whether there was a mismatch between the desire to have more trees and limited resource to maintain them. Cllr Brown advised that Cllr Arshad, Cabinet Member for Parks and Waste Reduction would be best-placed to give advice on the matter.

·         Waste Strategy – this strategy had historically been about recycling, but in the Business Plan there was a reference to street littering. In response to a question, Cllr Brown agreed that this reference was probably in the wrong place and she would feed that back to officers. The Chief Executive added that the point was more related to the availability of bins.

·         Transport and inclusivity – a point was raised about the need to ensure that green transport actions did not exclude certain groups of people from the City or make their businesses unviable (e.g. sole operators such as plumbers who needed to drive around the City in order to work and provide their services). Cllr Brown confirmed she had raised this point with the County Council previously.

·         Communications – there was concern that there was no reference to public consultation related to Zero Carbon Oxford or Connecting Oxford. Cllr Brown advised that the County Council had responsibility for those consultations, but provided assurance that consultation was a key part of those strategies.

The Committee resolved to recommend to Cabinet that:

1.    The Council updates its Business Plan to reflect central government’s possible decision to grant Wolvercote Mill Stream bathing water status, and has planned next steps for improvements in the area in the event that this status is or is not granted.

2.    The Council commits to protect its parks and play areas from development.

3.    The Council determines and publicises the means by which local residents can evidence that a site is valued and worthy, therefore, of protection.

4.    The Council adds a commitment in the Business Plan to investigate the practicalities of establishing a youth council in Oxford.

5.    The Council includes within the Business Plan a commitment to reducing road traffic accidents, and relatedly, places restrictions on HGV access to the city centre.

6.    The Council continues to engage with local anchor institutions over how they can meaningfully address local needs, particularly regarding rent levels, access to leisure space, minimum wages and tree-planting.

7.    The Council undertakes to review its Tree Policy as part of its Business Plan.

8.    In the development of the Oxford Transport Strategy the Council is particularly mindful of the impacts on small businesses and sole traders, whose businesses depend on travelling extensively throughout the city centre, of proposals which limit vehicular access.