Agenda and draft minutes

Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Wednesday, 7th January, 2026 5.30 pm

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

Media

Items
No.	Item
75.	Apologies for Absence and Temporary Appointments To receive any apologies for absence and temporary appointments. The quorum for the Committee is four members. Additional documents: Webcast for 75. Minutes: Apologies were noted from Councillors Adam Clements, Natalie King, Mark Walker and Alistair Wray. Councillor Julian Cooper substituted for Councillor Adam Clements and Councillor Carl Rylett substituted for Councillor Alistair Wray.
76.	Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations from Members of the Committee on any items to be considered at the meeting. Additional documents: Webcast for 76.
77.	Minutes of Previous Meeting PDF 68 KB To approve the minutes of the Committee meeting held 10 December 2025. Additional documents: Webcast for 77. Minutes: Councillor Genny Early commented that she hoped the question raised on the Windrush in Witney project would be taken forward soon. The approval of the minutes was proposed by Councillor Wilson and seconded by Councillor Cosier, put to the vote and agreed by the Committee. RESOLVED: To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2025 as an accurate record.
78.	Chair's announcements To receive any announcements from the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Additional documents: Webcast for 78. Minutes: The Chair announced that an informal meeting would be taking in February to consider the Committee’s work plan for the year ahead. The Chair also suggested bringing the main item of business forward on the agenda to follow participation of the public.
79.	Participation of the Public To receive any submissions from members of the public, in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Rules. The deadline for submissions is 2.00pm, two clear working days before the meeting. Additional documents: Webcast for 79. Minutes: Councillor Andy Graham addressed the Committee in his capacity as County Councillor for Woodstock in relation to fire services in West Oxfordshire. Councillor Graham thanked the professionalism of staff involved in delivering fire services and made the following points: Local fire stations provided reassurance and security for the public. The overriding issue for the Committee to consider was whether the proposals would enhance public safety and improve response times. If not then the proposals should be challenged and improvements sought. The Committee may wish to consider response time modelling, service resilience, impacts on recruitment and retention and impacts on rural communities. Change was not necessarily negative, but benefits needed to be demonstrated and not assumed.
80.	Report back on recommendations PDF 30 KB For the Committee to note the Executive’s response to any recommendations arising from the previous Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting. Additional documents: Webcast for 80. Minutes: The Committee noted the Executive’s responses to the Committee’s recommendation relating to the Waste and Environmental Services Programme.
81.	Updates from Task and Finish Groups For the Chairs of Task and Finish Groups to provide any verbal or written progress updates. Additional documents: Webcast for 81. Minutes: There was no update since the previous meeting.
82.	Motion A Protecting Fire Services in West Oxfordshire - Referred from Council 3 December PDF 235 KB View the declarations of interest for item 82. Purpose For the Committee to consider the motion referred to the Committee by Council on 3 December and agree the Council’s response to it. Included are the wording of the Council motion and a number of Oxfordshire County Council’s consultation documents. Invited Councillor Jenny Hannaby, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing and Safety; and Rob MacDougall, Chief Fire Officer and Director of Community Safety. Additional documents: 1. Improve our fire and rescue service public consultation v2 , item 82. PDF 1 MB 2. Facts first_Improving our Fire and Rescue Service , item 82. PDF 280 KB 3. Equalities Impact Assessment , item 82. PDF 368 KB 4. Response Time Maps , item 82. PDF 2 MB 5. Modelling Report v2 , item 82. PDF 3 MB 6. Data Methodology , item 82. PDF 123 KB Webcast for 82. Minutes: This item was to consider the motion titled “Protecting Fire Services in West Oxfordshire”, which had been referred to the Committee by full Council on 3 December 2025. Council had authorised the Committee to determine what (if any) action to take on behalf of the Council. The Chair explained that the item would be approached in the following order: Cllr Liam Walker would be invited to present his motion. The Chief Fire Officer would be invited to present the County Council’s consultation proposals. The Committee would ask questions of the Chief Fire Officer. The Committee would consider its response to the County Council’s consultation. Councillor Liam Walker explained that it hadn’t been his intention to bring this matter to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee but he hoped the Committee would be able to consider the issues in detail and put a strong case to the County Council on behalf of residents of West Oxfordshire. The consultation would be open until 20 January 2026 and residents were encouraged to respond to it. There was an opportunity to seek delay given uncertainties around the location of any new fire station, where fire services would sit within future local government structures, and concerns around fire fighters losing their jobs and homes linked to their jobs. Rob McDougall, Chief Fire Officer, introduced the County Council’s proposals for improving fire services and said that: The aim was to seek to improve fire services for communities. The service was reliant on on-call fire fighters who performed that role in addition to their daily lives and jobs. The challenge around the availability of on call fire fighters was the main issue the proposals were seeking to address. The main proposal was to reconfigure resources to move whole time resources into daytime shifts when incidents were highest and on call fire fighters were least available. Shifting an engine out of Oxford would improve the service to the districts. The proposals would improve average response times for all communities. The intention was to move from the aging site at Rewley Road in Oxford city centre to a new site in North Oxford. There was a need to identify a site, seek planning approval and develop the site, so this was medium term aim. Day crews based at Kidlington would be impacted but had been given assurances that no one would be made homeless as a result of changes. Due to low availability, fire stations at Woodstock, Eynsham and Henley were proposed to be closed. This would have local impacts but the current availability of engines at these stations was only 15-25% due to a lack of fire fighters. The workforce had been informed of the proposals first and there had been an orchestrated communications plan. The Unions had been informed a week prior to the proposals being publicly launched. The Committee asked the Chief Fire Officer a number of questions and from the responses noted that: The thinking was that the proposed closures would be contingent on a new ... view the full minutes text for item 82.
83.	Executive Work Programme PDF 119 KB Purpose: To give the Committee the opportunity to comment on the Executive Work Programme. Recommendation: That the Committee agrees which items on the Executive Work Programme should be subject to pre-decision scrutiny and the priority order of those items. Additional documents: Webcast for 83. Minutes: The Committee noted that the Executive report on Woodford Way had not been ready for pre-decision scrutiny the January Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting but that an update paper would come forwards to the Committee in March.
84.	Committee Work Programme PDF 99 KB Purpose: For the Committee to review and note its work programme. Recommendation: That the Committee notes and comments on the work programme. Additional documents: Webcast for 84. Minutes: The Committee noted that, following a request at the previous meeting, an Executive report on the government’s National Planning Policy Framework consultation had been added to the work plan for March. The Chair suggested, and the Committee agreed, to hold an additional meeting in March to enable the Committee to complete the remaining work plan items within the current civic year.

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