Agenda and minutes

Venue: This will be held at 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, OX14 4SB

Contact: Steve Culliford  Democratic Services Officer

Link: This meeting will be broadcast live - you can watch it here

Items
No. Item

11.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 377 KB

To adopt and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 10 June 2021. 

Minutes:

RESOLVED: to adopt the Cabinet minutes of 10 June 2021 as a correct record and agree that the Chair signs them as such.

12.

Declaration of disclosable pecuniary interest

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. 

Minutes:

None

13.

Urgent business and chair's announcements

To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chair. 

Minutes:

None

14.

Public participation

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

Minutes:

Cabinet received statements from two registered speakers. 

 

(1)    Professor Richard Harding, the Chair of the South Oxfordshire Campaign to Protect Rural England, made a statement in support in principle of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.  However, he believed that the plan was not fit for purpose as each option had a negative effect on the environment.  There should be a proper analysis of the risks and benefits of each option.  He urged the council to prioritise low carbon development and environmental protection as the highest priorities. 

 

(2)    Councillor Sue Roberts made a statement on the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.  She believed that the plan bore the hallmarks of previous plans with too much development, and at levels above the latest population forecasts.  This should be amended.  She urged the council not to rush into a new nightmare but instead to stop this plan and develop an ecological recovery plan with no new development. 

 

The Chair thanked the speakers for their statements and encouraged them to respond to the public consultation. 

15.

Recommendations and updates from other committees

To consider any recommendations to Cabinet from other committees. 

Minutes:

Cabinet noted that on 13 July 2021, members of the Joint Scrutiny Committee had met informally to discuss the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.  They had made a series of suggestions, which had been circulated to Cabinet members in advance of the Cabinet meeting.  The committee members had made suggestions on the consultation methodology, which had been forwarded to the Oxfordshire Plan team. 

16.

Oxfordshire Plan 2050 pdf icon PDF 307 KB

To consider the head of planning’s report. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet considered the head of planning’s report on the Oxfordshire Plan 2050.  The report sought Cabinet’s approval for the Regulation 18 Part 2 version of the plan to be subject to public consultation for ten weeks from 30 July 2021 until October. 

 

All principal councils in Oxfordshire had met during the week to consider the same report and recommendations.  Each council had approved the plan for consultation. 

 

An all-councillor briefing had been held on the plan and members of the Joint Scrutiny Committee had met informally and made suggestions on the consultation methodology.  South Oxfordshire District Council would itself respond to the consultation.  The Cabinet member for planning urged all councillors to respond also and to promote the consultation to their communities. 

 

Cabinet welcomed the vision in the plan, which would provide a solid basis for the consultation.  Some concerns were expressed that the options did not include detail on the likely housing numbers; other members explained why at this stage of the plan process, the approach had their support and should go forward.  The plan needed to provide for the right type of homes for Oxfordshire, not mass sprawl.  Overall, this should be a plan that supported ecological recovery and be driven by the needs of Oxfordshire, not by the historic statements about the Oxford to Cambridge Arc. 

 

Cabinet supported the recommendations in the report to approve the plan for consultation.  It should be meaningful engagement, reaching young people on the future of Oxfordshire up to 2050.  Cabinet suggested that the consultation should also be wider than just Oxfordshire as it affected other areas of the country.  It was noted that the consultation would be web-based and would be freely available to everyone across a wider geographical area.  Cabinet thanked the officers for their work on this plan and thanked Councillor Roberts for her work on the Oxfordshire Plan steering group. 

 

RESOLVED: to

 

(a)       approve the Regulation 18 (Part 2) Oxfordshire Plan 2050 document for public consultation as attached at Appendix A to the head of planning’s report to Cabinet on 22 July 2021;

 

(b)    authorise the head of planning to make any necessary editorial corrections and minor amendments to the documents, and to agree the final publication style, in liaison with the Cabinet member for planning, and subject to agreement with their counterparts in the other four partner Local Planning Authorities; and

 

(c)        adopt the updated Statement of Community Involvement which will become the formal basis for the forthcoming Regulation Part 2 consultation. 

 

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South Oxfordshire District Council
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OX14 3JE