Agenda and minutes
PDF 63 KBVenue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, Woodgreen, Witney, Oxfordshire OX28 1NB. View directions
Media
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Apologies for Absence and Temporary Appointments To receive any apologies for absence and temporary appointments. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Hugo Ashton, Andy Goodwin, Phil Godfrey and Alistair Wray (Councillor Dave Jackson substituted for Councillor Alistair Wray and Councillor Elizabeth Poskitt substituted for Councillor Hugo Ashton). Apologies were also noted from Councillors Andy Graham, Leader of the Council, Duncan Enright, Deputy Leader of the Council and David Melvin.
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations from Members of the Committee on any items to be considered at the meeting. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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To approve the minutes of the meeting held 7 February 2024. Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of the meetings held on 7 February 2024 were approved by the Committee. |
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Chair's announcements To receive any announcements from the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Minutes: The Chair updated Members that the first meeting of the Leisure and Wellbeing Task and Finish Review would be held the following day at 3.00pm over Teams. Members were asked to consider what issues the Committee wished to include in its work plan for 2024/25 and to provide any suggestions to the Chair, Councillor Poole and Democratic Services. . |
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Participation of the Public To receive any submissions from members of the public, in accordance with the Council’s Rules of Procedure, anyone who lives in the district or who pays council tax or business rates to the Council is eligible to read a statement or express an opinion at this meeting. You can register to speak by sending your written submission of no more than 750 words to [email protected] by no later than 10.00am on the working day before the meeting. Minutes: There was no participation of the public. |
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Purpose: To present the West Oxfordshire District Council Carbon Action Plan, which is proposed to be adopted and resourced by the Council from April 2024.
Recommendation: That the Committee scrutinises the Carbon Action Plan and agrees any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Council’s Executive.
Invited: Councillor Andrew Prosser, Executive Member for Climate Change Hannah Kenyon, Climate Change Manager Additional documents:
Minutes: The Climate Change Manager provided a copy of the Carbon Action Plan attached to the agenda. Lily Paulson, the Climate Change Officer was introduced and thanked for all her hard work on the project. The report explained that West Oxfordshire District Council (the Council) declared a climate and ecological emergency in 2019, making its pledge to become a carbon neutral Council by 2030. A pledge to be carbon neutral meant that the Council needed to balance the carbon dioxide emissions produced as a result of its everyday activities with the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that was removed from the atmosphere. Therefore, the first objective was to minimise the amount of carbon dioxide emissions being released because of Council activities bringing these as close to zero as possible. Any remaining ‘residual’ emissions would then need to be offset through verified means. While the Carbon Action Plan focused on reducing emissions from Council activities, buildings and services, the Council was also committed to facilitating the reduction of wider district emissions through the delivery of its Climate Change Strategy 2021-25. The document provided an updated version of the Climate Action Plan, covering actions to be undertaken between 2024 and 2030 to reach the carbon neutral target. The plan only focused on the Council’s internal emissions and set out the pathway and actions required to meet the 2030 targets. A range of actions were required to meet these targets and currently the Council was not on course to reach the 2030 targets. The actions that were required in certain areas, the co-benefits, the financial implications, importance for external funding and how monitoring and reporting would be undertaken was explained. Various questions and points of clarification were raised with Officers providing answers and points of clarification as follows:
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Financial Performance Report – 2023/24 Quarter Three Purpose: To detail the Council’s Financial Performance for Quarter Three 2023-2024.
Recommendation: That the Committee scrutinises the Financial Performance for Quarter Three 2023-2024 report and agrees any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Council’s Executive.
Invited: Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance Madhu Richards, Finance Director Additional documents:
Minutes: The Executive Member for Finance introduced the report that detailed the Council’s financial performance for Quarter Three 2023-2024. It was explained that the position at year end was forecasted to be an overspend of £326,268. The equivalent figure at Q2 was £783,170. The outturn position had significantly improved due to the contribution of £554,000 in additional Treasury Management investment income and an expected £250,000 reimbursement from Publica relating to early delivery against savings targets and slightly higher employee turnover. The Finance Director asked the Committee to note the recommendation of delegated authority on page 62 of the report and that it was to ensure reserves could be used to address various risks if required. Various questions and points of clarification were raised with Officers providing answers and points of clarification as follows:
RESOLVED that AGREED to submit the following recommendation to the Executive on 6 March 2024:
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Sport England Swimming Pool Support Fund Phase 2 Report to Follow
Invited: Councillor Tim Sumner, Executive Member for Leisure and Major Projects Andy Barge, Assistant Director - Communities
Additional documents:
Minutes: Members were made aware that there was an exempt report and if it was discussed there would be a requirement to go into exempt session. The Executive Member for Leisure and Major Projects introduced the report that sought approval for the Council to enter into an agreement with Sport England for the acceptance of a grant from the Swimming Pool Support Fund (SPSF) Phase 2; and for the Council to draw down funding awarded to Chipping Norton Lido, acting in its capacity as lead authority for the delivery of the SPSF. It was explained that the SPSF had been allocated to local authorities in England by the government as a support package for public leisure facilities with swimming pools and was split into two phases. Following the announcement of the second phase of the grant scheme in September 2023, a series of interventions were considered for each of the sites in the District. Funding bids totalling almost £754,000 were developed and for Carterton Leisure Centre, Chipping Norton Leisure Centre, Chipping Norton Lido (bid submitted by Lido management team), Windrush Leisure Centre, Witney, and Woodstock Outdoor Pool. Only 2 bids were accepted due to an overwhelming demand; funding for both Windrush Leisure Centre in Witney and Chipping Norton Lido were accepted. Various questions and points of clarification were raised with Officers providing answers and points of clarification as follows:
RESOLVED that the Committee NOTED the report.
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Service Performance Report 2023-24 Quarter Three Purpose: To provide details of the Council’s operational performance at the end of 2023-24 Quarter Three (Q3).
Recommendations: That the Committee scrutinises the report and agrees any recommendations it wishes to make to the Executive.
Invited: Councillor Andy Graham, Leader of the Council Giles Hughes, Chief Executive Alison Borrett, Senior Performance Analyst Additional documents:
Minutes: The Senior Performance Analyst introduced the report that provided details of the Council’s operational performance at the end of 2023-24 Quarter Three (Q3). Highlights of the report were shared and it was explained that the Climate Team, in collaboration with other Oxfordshire authorities, secured £298k of Innovate UK funding to enable nature-based carbon offsetting in Oxfordshire. Witney Christmas Market witnessed approximately 15,000 shoppers at the Marriotts Walk shopping centre, marking a 59% increase compared to the same period in 2022 and a significant 70% surge from the previous week's visitor count. In November, the Executive approved a new delivery model, jointly developed by Green Axis and Homes England, for the zero-carbon housing development at Waterbush Road, Chipping Norton, with legal agreements currently in progress. Planning permission had been granted in November for the decarbonisation of Carterton Leisure Centre. An overview of progress against all actions in the Corporate Plan was attached at Annex A and the Council Priority highlight report was attached at Annex B. Service performance indicators both above and below targets were listed in the report and some explanation was provided where required. Various questions and points of clarification were raised with Officers providing answers and points of clarification as follows:
RESOLVED that the Committee NOTED the report.
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Publica Transition Plan Purpose: To consider the Local Partnerships report and to consider the findings and recommendations therein.
Recommendation: That the Committee scrutinises the Publica Transition Plan and agrees any recommendations it wishes to submit to the Council’s Executive.
Invited: Councillor Andy Graham, Leader of the Council Giles Hughes, Chief Executive Andrew Pollard, Interim Programme Director Additional documents: Minutes: The Chief Executive Officer introduced the report that considered the Local Partnerships report and other findings and recommendations therein of the Publica review. Frank Wilson had been recruited as the new Interim Managing Director of Publica. Christine Gore had been appointed as the new Chair of the Board and Andrew Pollard had been appointed as the Interim Programme Director. The report explained that most Council services were delivered through Publica, a joint vehicle owned by the Council together with Cotswold District Council, Cheltenham Borough Council and Forest of Dean District Council. An options appraisal review of Council services and the way in which they were delivered had been undertaken by a company called Human Engine in 2023. The final report recommended that a significant number of services should move from Publica and return to being under direct control of the Councils. This would leave Publica delivering a range of support and customer services for the Councils. The Human Engine report would inform the preparation and implementation of a detailed transition plan that would be presented by the Interim Programme Director and Chief Executive later in the year. Local Partnerships come with a wealth of experience and were well placed to be able to refer to the wider public sector’s experience of insourcing to provide illustrations of governance, organisational design and service transformation, having been involved in undertaking service reviews for a number of councils in the past. This knowledge and approach facilitated bringing services back in-house following best practice, rather than simply ‘lift and shift’. The brief agreed with Local Partnerships was for the provision of a high-level set of recommendations, following those set out in the Human Engine report, to enable the councils to take the project forward. The Local Partnerships report did not intend to seek to identify all service areas to be transferred, but to give a high-level overview of and suggest key phases of services as part of the transition. It would be for the Interim Programme Director to develop this further with more specific detail in due course. It was envisaged that the detailed transition plan would be completed by the end of April, with subsequent reporting back through the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Executive. The Interim Programme Director introduced himself and outlined his experience whilst explaining how he could go about developing a detailed, fully analysed and costed Transition Plan. Various questions and points of clarification were raised with Officers providing answers and points of clarification as follows:
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Report back on recommendations To note the response of the Executive on 14 February 2024 to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations on the Nature Recovery Plan and Nature Recovery Officer item. Minutes: The Democratic Services Business Manager provided a list of the recommendations arising from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday 7 February 2024. Comments were then provided by the Executive and this would be a standing item going forward as it demonstrated good practice. Councillor Alex Wilson requested that it be recorded that he was disappointed his recommendation was rejected. RESOLVED that the Committee NOTED the Executive’s response to the recommendations arising from the 7 February 2024 Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.
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Committee Work Programme Purpose: For the Committee to review and comment on its work programme.
Recommendation: That the Committee notes and comments on its work programme. Minutes: The following was requested for the Committee Work Programme:
· The Committee agreed to bring the waste service contract update; once it was ready to scrutinise.
· Information on the CCTV upgrade in April and the requested statistics would be chased and shared with Members.
· Community Infrastructure Levy report requested to come to the April meeting.
· Knight’s Court would be added back on to the work programme. |
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Executive Forward Plan Purpose: To give the Committee the opportunity to review the Executive Forward Plan.
Recommendations: That the Committee agrees whether any items on the Executive Forward Plan should be subject to pre-decision scrutiny and, if so, the priority order of those items. Minutes: The following was requested for the Executive Forward Plan: In regards to a query on the CIL Draft Charging Schedule and whether it was a key decision; it was confirmed that it was not a key decision because the report was only seeking authority to consult on a draft and Council would be the final decision maker when the charging schedule was adopted.
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