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Agenda

Council - Wednesday, 19th March, 2025 2.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Woodgreen, Witney, Oxfordshire OX28 1NB. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

1.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 101 KB

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 26 February 2025.

2.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

3.

Declarations of Interest

To receive any declarations from Members of Council on any items to be considered at the meeting.

4.

Receipt of Announcements

To receive any announcements from The Chair, Leader, Members of the Executive, Head of Paid Service, Director of Finance or Director of Governance.

5.

Participation of the Public

There were no submissions for public participation received by Democratic Services before the deadline of 12.00pm on Monday 10 March 2025.

 

6.

Questions by Members

The following questions have been submitted by Members of Council to Members of the Executive, in accordance with the Council Procedure Rules (Constitution Part 5A, Rule 12).

 

Written responses will be circulated to Members and published on the Council’s website at least one working day prior to the meeting. A Member submitting a question is entitled to ask one supplementary question at the meeting which must arise directly from the question or the response to it.

 

The supplementary questions and answers will be detailed in the minutes of the meeting.

 

Question 1: From Councillor Sarah Veasey to Councillor Hugo Ashton, Executive Member for Planning:

 

On 12th December 2024, WODC announced that the planning process at Salt Cross Garden Village has been temporarily paused. 

 

Whilst the net zero ambitions at Salt Cross are commendable, the lack of the 5 year housing land supply (5yhls) is leading to an explosion of unsustainable, car led, windfall development, without the necessary accompanying infrastructure, across the villages of West Oxfordshire.

 

This is notable in my ward North Leigh where there have been 7 housing developments approved in as many years and a further 115 houses are under consideration now - with at least 4 more sites in the pipeline.  This is already an increase of more than 50% in the housing stock and we have no improvement in infrastructure to show for it.

 

Can we please have an update on the situation on the Salt Cross Garden Village development as this was a substantial part of West Oxfordshire Local Plan (WOLP) 2031 and is instrumental in WODC being able to demonstrate a 5yhls?

 

Question 2: From Councillor Michelle Mead to Councillor Lidia Arciszewska, Executive Member for Environment:

 

Oxfordshire County Council are responsible for highways but WODC are responsible for keeping it clean so Please can you tell us when was last time the A40 dual carriage way was cleared of litter?

 

Question 3: From Councillor Liam Walkerto Councillor Lidia Arciszewska, Executive Member for Environment:

 

Can the Executive member confirm when the footpath and road on the A4095 into Bladon, both reported in early February, are going to be swept and clear of debris left behind from flooding?

 

Question 4: From Councillor Liam Walkerto Councillor Lidia Arciszewska, Executive Member for Environment:

 

Can the Executive member update us with the figures for the number of reported incidents of fly-tipping in West Oxfordshire for the year 2022/23, 2023/24, and 2024/25 periods.

 

Question 5: From Councillor Liam Walker to Councillor Geoff Saul, Executive Member for Housing:

 

The former Witney Four Pillars hotel has been used to accommodate illegal migrants since November 2022. Is the Executive member aware if this is still the case that it’s being used for this purpose and if so, how long is this likely to be in use for?

 

 

Recommendations from the Executive

7.

Publica Phase two transition plan pdf icon PDF 488 KB

Purpose

To consider the Transition Plan, to note its contents and to approve the recommendations therein.

 

Recommendation

Subject to the resolutions of the Executive on 12 March 2025, Council is recommended to:

  1. Approve the implementation of Phase 2 of the Publica Transition on the basis of the Phase 2 Transition Plan.
  2. Delegate to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council the decision to deal with any final detailed matters arising from the Phase 2 Transition Plan.
  3. Delegate authority to the Director of Governance in liaison with the Leader to update the Constitution by making any consequential changes required as a result of Phase 2 of the Publica Transition.
  4. Carry out a budget re-basing for the 2026/7 financial year so that the funding provided to Publica is proportionate to the services received.

Additional documents:

8.

Provision of an Empty Property Lending Scheme pdf icon PDF 76 KB

Purpose

To consider a loan provider for owners of long-term empty properties who need financial support to bring their properties back into use.

 

Recommendation

Subject to the resolutions of the Executive on 12 March 2025, Council is recommended to:

1.  Approve a capital investment of £300,000 to create a lending pot.

2.  Approve an initial set up fee of £30,125.

Additional documents:

Reports from Officers

9.

Recommendations from the Constitution Working Group pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Purpose

To present Council with recommendations from arising from meetings of the Constitution Working Group held on 2 October 2024 and 7 November 2024.

 

Recommendation

That Council resolves to:

  1. Agree to remove the following provisions from paragraph 36 of Part 5C of the Constitution to ensure consistency with other parts of the Constitution in setting out which decisions are subject to call in (as shown in Annex A):

ii.     is taken by the Executive itself; or

iii.    is taken under powers delegated by the Executive to individual Executive Member(s); or

iv.    is taken under powers delegated by the Executive to a Committee or Sub-Committee.

  1. Agree to include the Chair of the Council in Part 4C and the Vice-Chair of the Council and the Director of Place in both Part 4C and Article 2 as being authorised to apply the common seal of the Council and sign documents (as shown in Annexes B and C).
  2. Agree to include in the responsibilities of the Development Control Committee at Part 3C responsibility for determining the Council’s response to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects within the District (as shown in Annex D).
  3. Agree to include in Part 4B additional delegations to the Head of the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit relating to reactive enforcement functions (as shown in Annex E).
  4. Delegate authority to the Director of Governance, in consultation with the Chair of the Constitution Working Group (which is due to meet on 26 March 2025), to adopt the new Contract Procedure Rules which have been rewritten following the implementation of the Procurement Act 2023.

Additional documents:

Motions on Notice

10.

Motion A: Botley West Solar Farm (proposed by Councillor Roger Faulkner, seconded by Councillor Sarah Veasey)

This Council is deeply concerned about the impact that the Botley West Solar Farm project will have on both the local community and countryside.

This Council requests the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero objecting to the proposal.

11.

Motion B: Public Engagement in Council Meetings (proposed by Councillor Michele Mead, seconded by Councillor Liam Walker)

Public participation in council meetings is something we should all encourage and support. Currently the council constitution sets out different rules regarding public participation in our meetings. For committee meetings members of the public must register to speak by 10AM on the working day before. For Executive it’s by 2PM two clear working days before, and for Full Council it is by 12NOON seven working days before and therefore before the council agenda is published two days later.

In order to improve and encourage public participation in our meetings this council asks the constitution working group to review these deadlines and to report back to full council within six months with an update on any new changes decided by the committee.

 

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