The Scrutiny Committee met on 26 March 2025 and the Climate and Environment Panel met on 27 March 2025.  The report and recommendations from these meetings are published as supplement.

• Anti-Social Behaviour Policy Update
• Urgent Key Decisions End-of-Year Update
• Energy Efficiency Update
• Carbon Offsetting (Local Carbon Oxford) Update

Councillor Miles presented the reports from Scrutiny Committee.

The Scrutiny Committee met on 26 March 2025 and reviewed the Anti-Social Behaviour Policy Update and the Urgent Key Decisions End-of-Year Update. The Climate and Environment Panel met on 27 March 2025 and reviewed the Energy Efficiency Update, the Carbon Offsetting (Local Carbon Oxford) Update, and the Zero Carbon Industrial Decarbonisation Update.

Councillor Miles presented the Scrutiny Committee’s discussions and recommendations relating to the the Anti-Social Behaviour Policy Update.

• Recommendation 1: That the Anti-Social Behaviour Policy incorporate a clause referencing the principles of 'Safe by Design' in public spaces, and ensure its application in the planning of new public spaces and redesign of existing locations identified as hotpots for anti-social behaviour
• Recommendation 2: That Council explore approaches to pavement parking as a form of ASB, for example identifying any multi-agency approaches to combat such problems trialled in designated areas by other local authorities, and assess the feasibility of implementing similar measures locally, noting the potential need for cross-agency collaboration in enforcement and policy development.

Councillor Arshad responded and noted that Cabinet had accepted the first recommendation and had partially accepted the second recommendation. Councillor Arshad said that the first recommendation represented a key priority area of work for the Council. She said that she had written a letter to the County Council regarding the pavement parking issue and that they would continue to work with the County Council and the police to address these concerns.

Councillor Miles presented the Scrutiny Committee’s discussions and recommendation regarding the Urgent Key Decisions End-of-Year Update.

• That an end-of-year summary update on Urgent Key Decisions is provided to the Scrutiny Committee, at the discretion of the Scrutiny Chair, in the next municipal year, enabling the Committee to assess whether the mitigations implemented have effectively addressed the high frequency of these decisions.

Councillor Brown responded and noted that the Chair of Scrutiny would continue to be informed of all urgent key decisions as they arise. She said that they would review this matter as they move through the year and decide if further work was needed in this area. 

Councillor Miles presented the Climate and Environment Panel’s discussions and recommendations regarding the Energy Efficiency Update, the Carbon Offsetting (Local Carbon Oxford) Update, and the Zero Carbon Industrial Decarbonisation Update.

• Recommendation 1: A brief assessment of the heat mapping exercise as part of the District Heating Network across the city of Oxford, and to confirm when the data would be available.
• Recommendation 2: Explore the properties in Oxford that have already installed air source heat pumps (i.e commercial properties, private landlords, private properties).

• Recommendation 3: Update for Local Carbon Oxford project to be provided for the Panel at a later date.

Councillor Miles noted that the Panel had made no recommendations on the Zero Carbon Industrial Decarbonisation Update.

Councillor Railton responded and stated that Cabinet had agreed the first recommendation in full, had partially agreed the second recommendation, and had agreed the third recommendation in full.

Councillor Brown thanked Councillor Miles for her work and for the work of the Scrutiny Committee.

Councillors Turner and Railton arrived during this item, at 18:03.