Minutes
OF A MEETING OF THE
|
|
|
Council
Held on Thursday 12 October 2023 at 6.00 pm Didcot Civic Hall, Britwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN |
|
Present in the meeting room:
Councillors: David Turner (Chair), Kellie Hinton, Ken Arlett, James Barlow, Tim Bearder, Robin Bennett, David Bretherton, Sue Cooper, Peter Dragonetti, Maggie Filipova-Rivers, Stefan Gawrysiak, Mike Giles, Kate Gregory, Georgina Heritage, Alexandrine Kantor, Katharine Keats-Rohan, Mocky Khan, Axel Macdonald, Denise Macdonald, Ben Manning, Andrea Powell, Leigh Rawlins, Jo Robb, David Rouane, Anne-Marie Simpson, Ed Sadler, Ian Snowdon, Andrew Tinsley and Tony Worgan
Officers: Patrick Arran, Head of Legal and Democratic, and Steven Corrigan, Democratic Services Manager
30 Apologies for absence
Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Barker, Casey-Rerhaye, Gordon-Creed, James-Lawrie, Mohammed, Norman and Van Mierlo.
31 Minutes
RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13 July 2023 and the minutes of the extraordinary meeting held on 29 August 2023 as correct records and agree that the Chair sign them as such.
32 Declarations of interest
None.
33 Urgent business and chair's announcements
The Chair provided details of the engagements he had attended since the last Council meeting including:
· The unveiling of a blue plaque in East Hendred commemorating the lives of the Rt Hon MP Roy Jenkins and his wife Dame Jennifer Jenkins;
· The High Sheriffs Ceremony of the Glove at Christ Church Chapel; and
· The unveiling of a plaque by Princess Anne at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley commemorating the work of the charity Give Them a Sporting Change and Rivertime Boat Trust.
34 Public participation
No members of the public had registered to address Council.
35 Petitions
None.
36 Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Neighbourhood Development Plan
Council considered the recommendation of Councillor Rouane, Leader of the council, made on 29 September 2023, to make the Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Neighbourhood Development Plan Review.
1. make the Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Neighbourhood Development Plan Review with the modifications specified in the Examiner’s report;
2. authorise the head of policy and programmes, in consultation with the appropriate Cabinet member and in agreement with the Qualifying Body – Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Parish Council, to correct any spelling, grammatical, typographical or factual errors together with any improvements from a presentational perspective.
37 Section 106 (S106) Request - South Oxfordshire District Council Leisure Facilities - Didcot Wave Gym Equipment
Council considered Cabinet’s recommendation, made at its meeting on 28 September 2023, to create a budget in the approved capital programme for the Didcot Wave gym equipment project. Cabinet had supported the release of funds of £103,139.77 from two S106 contributions towards gym equipment at Didcot Wave pool and gym in response to a request from South Oxfordshire District Council’s Leisure Facilities team.
RESOLVED: to create a budget for £103,000 in the approved capital programme for the Didcot Wave gym equipment project, to be funded by the S106 contributions set out in the head of finance’s report to Cabinet on 28 September 2023.
38 Report of the leader of the council
Councillor Rouane, Leader of the council, provided an update on a number of matters. The text of his address is available on the council’s website.
39 Questions on notice
Henley Town Council has recently extended a loan facility of £100,000 to the Henley Kenton Theatre because it needs time to restructure and get back on its feet. This came about as a legacy of Covid and some management issues. South Oxfordshire District Council currently budgets around £470,000 per annum, with a total six year bill of £3,346,000, to operate its own arts centre Cornerstone, a district council owned building, which is for the benefit of Didcot and the wider region.
Currently the district council makes no contribution to other theatres around the district in Thame, Wallingford and Henley. I believe that it is fundamentally unfair that the district council tax base is disproportionately spent on Cornerstone as a subsidy for the Arts, and other theatres across the district get nothing. We should equally support cultural life across South Oxfordshire and, budgets permitting, financially support other arts venues.
As a first stage in the process to address this inequality of funding, would the Cabinet member agree to write to Didcot Town Council (Population 35,000) to see if they would be willing to make an ongoing financial contribution to support Cornerstone in the future?
As a second Stage, would the cabinet member be willing to ask officers, as part of the Budget setting process, to propose a suitable grant structure for the Theatres in Henley, Thame and Wallingford for consideration as part of the wider budget?
Answer
Thank you for your question, Councillor Gawrysiak,
It is true that all arts and culture facilities have been badly impacted by covid, and subsequently by the inflationary environment and cost of living emergency. The arts, culture and heritage offer in our district contributes to quality of life, community wellbeing, social connection, it creates jobs, and enhances learning. It is enormously valued by our residents, and I am sure this council as well.
Cornerstone is the only District Council owned and managed facility in the area. It was planned for and delivered by previous administrations in response to high levels of growth in Didcot and intended to serve areas beyond the town.
Since 2019 the council has made a series of changes to the management and delivery of the service in an effort to reduce the net cost whilst also protecting the valued service. Some such activities include:
- Bringing communications into the council’s central comms team
- Moving away from a curated offer
- Raising the profile of the facility via externally funded summer ‘Garden Party’ activities
- And developing and funding (also with external sources) the large decarbonisation project
In the 2022/23 budget setting report an ongoing annual reduction in net running costs of £170,000 was included but those decisions were taken before war in Ukraine, the increases in costs experienced since then and the cost of living crisis that has impacted on people's spending power, and meant that this reduction has not been able to be realised.
There also has been recognition that in addition to some of these short- and medium-term changes, we need to look at longer term options, which is why three different expert studies have been commissioned and now completed. On the basis of these, we as a council will be able to make informed decisions about the long-term management of Cornerstone. These reviews have taken longer than anticipated but I can confirm that officers in the Development and Corporate Landlord service will be bringing forward an options paper before the end of the calendar year.
Following the Cornerstone review, our officers will begin work on a district-wide Art and Culture Strategy which will look at how we work with, support and deliver local facilities, events and initiatives, and will seek the views of Town, Parishes among other stakeholders. The development of such policy will not only allow us to be more intentional about our role but will help us to understand how we can better support partners.
Cornerstone is a facility we have as an administration inherited, along with a plethora of challenges inherent in the sector. We, as owners, have obligations to it. These are likely the same issues the trustees of Henley Kenton Theatre are grappling with, and I have every sympathy.
I do hope that the imminent publication of the reviews, actions thereof, and the development of a district-wide strategy will help the local arts and culture sector as a whole to learn from one another and work together to weather these challenging times.
Your questions are duly noted, and I thank you for yours, and this council’s continued patience whilst we bring forward evidenced options for Cornerstone, and a way forward for the wider arts, culture and heritage sector in due course.
Supplementary question and response
In response to a supplementary question, Councillor Filipova-Rivers stated that work on the district-wide Art and Culture Strategy would commence early in the new year.
- Question from Councillor Rawlins to Councillor Simpson, Cabinet member for planning
It is very important to monitor the housing mix policy in our current local plan to ensure new residential development provides an appropriate mix of one, two, three and four bed (and above) housing for our residents. A swathe of household extensions and permitted development (PD) can increase the number of bedrooms to a home and change the mix of our market housing stock over time; thus limiting the availability of more modest housing stock and thereby increasing prices and rents.
The 2021 census data provides recent data about our housing stock and the impact of actual cumulative changes in that stock. It would appear that overall the change in housing stock materially diverged from planning policies under previous administrations of this council, particularly as the vast majority of new housing that is being delivered will be on sites granted permission before LP2035 was approved.
What steps can be taken to ensure we achieve the right housing mix for our residents in the future? To comply with our policy, it would seem that future permissions will need to change applied mix for a number of years in order to correct the past cumulative and ongoing current divergence caused by extensions?
Answer
The census data from 2011 and 2021 provides a useful measure of the housing stock in the district and how many homes there are of different bedroom sizes. Some of these changes will be from the construction of new homes which we can shape through planning decisions, while others result from home improvements by householders, like loft conversions. Our annual monitoring of the local plan (Authority Monitoring Report) shows that we have seen an increase in the delivery of smaller housing units over recent years on our major housing sites.
A comparison of the census data in 2011 and 2021 shows that there are now more homes overall in every category (1 bed, 2 bed, 3 bed, 4 or more bed). Comparing the proportions between the bedroom sizes, there has been a slight decrease in 1 bed homes, a slight increase in 2 beds, a decrease in 3 beds and increase in 4 or more beds. The changes in proportion are small, a maximum of around 2% change between the bedroom sizes over ten years.
It is important that our planning policies sustain an appropriate balance in our housing stock. As part of developing our emerging joint local plan we have commissioned studies which will take into account the wide variety of data and information relevant to our future housing mix, including the recent census outputs. This evidence will help inform any changes to our housing planning policies, including housing mix, in our emerging joint local plan and help provide the right housing mix for our residents.
As with all policies within the Joint Local Plan, housing mix will need to be subject to a full equalities impact assessment to ensure it delivers the intended outcomes sought over the new local plan period and reflects the wider policy drivers, such as the latest Local Transport and Connectivity Plan, which did not exist at the time the last local plan was developed. My understanding is that we are likely to consult on our emerging JLP housing policies early next year. Like all cabinet members, and I am sure all members of Council, I am committed to ensuring that consultation is meaningful and that we carefully consider the outcome of it. Full Council will, of course, consider any final proposals made by cabinet regarding all aspects of the JLP before it is submitted for examination.
A crucial element of ensuring that we achieve the desired mix currently is that when considering major planning applications, the planning committee ensure that the required weight is given to all South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2035 policies and recent appeal decisions have confirmed these retain significant weight. Were a developer to argue that there are specific reasons to vary from the housing mix policy within the adopted local plan, this is highlighted in the officer’s report to planning committee, and forms part of the committee’s consideration of the application. I am confident that the members of our planning committee do so diligently and act in a manner that is in line with the council’s policies and the wider legislation. I believe that they understand the importance of housing mix to our residents and recognise that it is important that this Council respects their role and democratic remit as our planning committee.
Supplementary question and response
In response to a supplementary question seeking further clarification regarding housing mix, Councillor Simpson reaffirmed that planning policies were the route to sustain an appropriate balance for the council’s housing stock and this was being addressed through the Joint Local Plan work.
40 Motions on notice
(1) Councillor Robb moved, and Councillor Filipova-Rivers seconded, the
motion as set out on the agenda at item 11(1)
Following debate and being put to the vote the motion was declared carried.
RESOLVED:
That Council’s Pay Policy Statement approved on 16 February 2023, ensures that all directly employed staff receive at least the Real Living Wage as annually defined by the Living Wage Foundation. The Real Living Wage is currently £10.90 an hour and will be updated on 24 October of this year.
The payment of at least the Real Living Wage to our employees is one way of ensuring that all our suppliers and residents are aware that we recognise the importance of the Real Living Wage in helping to reduce in-work poverty.
However, Council is currently unable to become accredited as a Real Living Wage employer as it does not have a clear commitment, or plan in place, to ensure that all the contracts it awards to third parties require that those companies are committed to paying, as a minimum, the Real Living Wage.
All our major contracts are joint arrangements between Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire District Councils.
Whilst Council recognises that it cannot simply change existing contracts, requiring payment of at least the Real Living Wage is something we are able to address in future procurements and contracts.
To demonstrate its commitment to the Real Living Wage and secure accreditation as a Real Living Wage employer, Council confirms its belief that:
• no Council employee, or employee of its third party contractors, should be
employed on less than the Real Living Wage.
Council therefore asks:
1. The Chief Executive to continue to engage with Unison, as the Council’s recognised trade union, to ensure that this position is maintained going forward in respect of all employees.
2. The Chief Executive to prepare a report for Cabinet, outlining the steps that are required for our Council to secure accreditation as a Real Living Wage accredited employer.
3. The Chief Executive to include, within this report, proposals to implement a requirement on all future contracted providers to pay at least the Real Living Wage to all their staff throughout the duration of the contract, identifying any likely costs associated with this.
4. Cabinet to consider the report when prepared and, should its recommendations be approved by both South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, authorise the Chief Executive to work with colleagues to implement its recommendations as soon as practicable.
5. The Chief Executive to bring to the attention of all existing third parties who currently provide services directly on behalf of the Council, our view that all employers should, as a minimum, pay the Real Living Wage to their staff and seek an update on their companies’ position in relation to this matter.
6. The Chief Executive to update Council on progress towards its Accreditation as a Real Living Wage Employer when the next Annual Pay Policy Statement is brought before it.
(2) Councillor Giles moved, and Councillor Barlow seconded, the
motion as set out on the agenda at item 11(2)
Following debate and being put to the vote the motion was declared carried.
RESOLVED:To note:
1. That in 2019 it declared a ‘climate emergency’ along with the ambition of becoming a net zero council by 2025, and a net zero district by 2030, in anticipation of a concerted national response to the climate emergency, and in 2021 declared an ‘ecological emergency’, following ongoing global heating and drastic declines in biodiversity, concerns which seriously harm the natural environment and place additional burdens on local communities.
2. That Pathways to a Zero Carbon Oxfordshire (PaZCO) stated in its 2021 report that ‘all net-zero pathways will involve’…‘a major programme of retrofit for existing homes and non domestic buildings’…and ‘the phase out of gas boilers and fossil-fuelled modes of transport’.
3. That the UK Government has now regrettably reduced its climate targets - delayed the ban on installing oil, Liquid Petroleum Gas and solid fuel boilers by nine years, delayed the phase out of sales of new internal combustion engine cars by five years, and abandoned the energy efficiency requirements on private landlords - which will make it incredibly difficult for the district to reach its ambition of becoming net zero by 2030.
4. That net zero initiatives can save residents money, for instance the upfront costs of home insulation can be returned to consumers in lower energy bills within a very short timeframe.
5. That delaying net zero targets harms business and industry certainty, and therefore impacts investment in green technology, skills, and infrastructure.
Council resolves to:
1. Ask the Climate and Ecological Emergencies Advisory Committee to consider the impact of the UK Government’s u-turn on net zero on the council and district, and to review the 2025 and 2030 net zero ambitions and the climate action plan during the process of reviewing the Climate Action Plan and in the production of the next Climate and Nature Recovery Action Plan in 2024, and to make recommendations to Cabinet in this regard.
2. Ask the Leader to write to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, requesting a regulatory impact assessment of the outcome of their policy changes, and to seek an assurance and rationale for how they consider these policy changes to be compliant with their statutory obligations to meet current and future carbon budgets.
The meeting closed at 6:50pm
Chair Date
|
|
|
|
|
|