Agenda and minutes

To adopt and sign as a correct record the Council minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2017 attached and the special meeting held on 29 June 2017 attached. 

RESOLVED: to approve the minutes of the special Council meeting held on 29 June 2017 and the Council meeting held on 20 July 2017 as correct records and agree that the Chairman sign them as such.

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

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

The Chairman provided housekeeping information.

She advised councillors that there are a few tickets remaining for her Antiques Supper on 26 October 2017. She also encouraged councillors to seek to publicise their ward councillor community grants budgets – to date only 12 applications had been received.

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

None.

Cabinet at its meeting on 3 August 2017 considered the report of the head of development and housing on a proposal to provide better temporary housing accommodation.  Cabinet agreed the approach which requires Council’s approval to amend the capital programme allocation.  The proposal includes initially purchasing two properties in Didcot. 

The report of the head of development and housing is attached.

Recommendation: tomake a supplementary estimate of up to £1,000,000 in 2018/19 for the purchase of temporary housing accommodation and add the temporary housing accommodation scheme to the provisional capital programme. 

Council considered Cabinet’s recommendation, made at its meeting on 3 August 2017, on temporary housing accommodation provision to 2022.

Cabinet had agreed an approach which required Council’s approval to amend the capital programme allocation.

Council welcomed the proposal and thanked officers and the Cabinet member for bringing this forward.

RESOLVED: to make a supplementary estimate of up to £1,000,000 in 2018/19 for the purchase of temporary housing accommodation (should this be required) and add the temporary housing accommodation scheme to the provisional capital programme. 

Cabinet, at its meeting on 5 October 2017, will consider the report of the head of finance on the outturn performance of the treasury management function for the financial year 2016/17.

The report of the head of finance, which Cabinet will consider on 5 October 2017, is attached. The Joint Audit and Governance Committee considered the report at its meeting on 25 September 2017. It welcomed the report and made no recommendations to Cabinet. The recommendations of Cabinet will be circulated to all councillors.

Council considered Cabinet’s recommendation, made at its meeting on 5 October 2017, on the outturn performance of the treasury management function for the financial year 2016/17. An addendum, circulated at the meeting and available as an addendum to the council agenda, set out revised wording for paragraph 22 of appendix C.

The Cabinet member for finance advised that the Joint Audit and Governance Committee and Cabinet had considered and welcomed the head of finance’s report and were satisfied that the treasury activities had been carried out in accordance with the treasury management strategy and policy.  The council had achieved a higher rate of return than the target income for the year primarily because of better rates on cash deposits as lending rates were higher than anticipated in the early part of the year and dividends on the council’s equity and property fund investments were higher than budget. 

The following responses were provided to questions:

·         The CCLA Property Fund had provided a good return. The council had considered investing more funds but the property prices were currently at a high level. The council would monitor the situation.

·         The investment with Kingston upon Hull City Council is a long-term investment with a fixed investment maturing in August 2020. It is therefore not possible to invest additional funds to benefit from the favourable interest rate;

·         Next year’s report will include the date of investment placements in the appendix accompanying the treasury report.

Mr William Jacobs, Head of Finance, undertook to provide an explanation for why the balance of land and property in the treasury outturn report dropped from £8.95milion at the end of March 2016 to £5.08million.

RESOLVED: to

1.    approve the head of finance’s treasury management outturn report for 2016/17;

2.    approve the actual 2016/17 prudential indicators within the head of finance’s report.

On 5 October 2017 Cabinet will consider a report to make the Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Neighbourhood Plan part of the Development Plan for South Oxfordshire.

The report of the head of planning, which Cabinet will consider on 5 October, is attached.

The recommendations of Cabinet will be circulated to all councillors.

Cabinet considered the recommendations of Cabinet, made at its meeting on 5 October 2017, on making the Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Neighbourhood Development Plan part of the development plan for South Oxfordshire.

RESOLVED: to

1.  ‘make’ the Brightwell-cum-Sotwell Neighbourhood Development Plan so that it continues to be part of the council’s development plan; and

2.    authorise the head of planning, in agreement with the Qualifying Body, to correct any spelling, grammatical, typographical or factual errors, together with any improvements from a presentational perspective.

On 5 October 2017 Cabinet will consider a report to make the Chinnor Neighbourhood Plan part of the Development Plan for South Oxfordshire.

The report of the head of planning, which Cabinet will consider on 5 October, is attached.

The recommendations of Cabinet will be circulated to all councillors.

Cabinet considered the recommendations of Cabinet, made at its meeting on 5 October 2017, on making the Chinnor Neighbourhood Development Plan part of the development plan for South Oxfordshire.

RESOLVED: to

1.    ‘make’ the Chinnor Neighbourhood Development Plan so that it continues to be part of the council’s development plan; and

2.    authorise the head of planning, in agreement with the Qualifying Body, to correct any spelling, grammatical, typographical or factual errors, together with any improvements from a presentational perspective.

On 5 October 2017 Cabinet will consider a report to make the Long Wittenham Neighbourhood Plan part of the Development Plan for South Oxfordshire.

The report of the head of planning, which Cabinet will consider on 5 October, is attached.

The recommendations of Cabinet will be circulated to all councillors.

Cabinet considered the recommendations of Cabinet, made at its meeting on 5 October 2017, on making the Long Wittenham Neighbourhood Development Plan part of the development plan for South Oxfordshire.

RESOLVED: to

1.    ‘make’ the Long Wittenham Neighbourhood Development Plan so that it continues to be part of the council’s development plan; and

2.    authorise the head of planning, in agreement with the Qualifying Body, to correct any spelling, grammatical, typographical or factual errors, together with any improvements from a presentational perspective. 

To receive any updates from the leader of the council.

No updates provided.

To consider the report of the head of legal and democratic services on a review of the political balance following the Haseley Brook by election and Paul Harrison joining the Conservative Group attached.

Council considered the report of the head of legal and democratic services on the review of the political balance following the Haseley Brook by election and Paul Harrison joining the Conservative Group.

Council agreed the allocation of seats to each political group as set out in the schedule circulated at the meeting which included the allocation of an additional Planning Committee seat to the Opposition Forum Group.

David Turner, Leader of the Opposition Forum Group, thanked the Conservative Group for the continued offer of increased representation on committees.

RESOLVED:

1.     to allocate seats to each political group on the committees, joint committees and panels below and to appoint the membership and substitutes, as indicated, to sit on them;

2.     to allocate a seat on the Joint Scrutiny Committee to the Opposition Forum Group;

3.     to allocate one of the Conservative group’s seats on the Planning Committee to the Opposition Forum Group (with no councillor voting against);

4.     to authorise the head of legal and democratic services to make appointments to any vacant committee or panel seat and substitute positions in accordance with the wishes of the relevant group leader.

No questions have been received by councillors in accordance with Council procedure rule 33.   

None.

No motions have been received by councillors in accordance with Council procedure rule 38.

None.

To consider whether to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business under Part 1 of Schedule 12A Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 on the grounds that:

(i)        it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

(ii)       the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

RESOLVED: to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 on the grounds that:

i.      it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

ii.     the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

To adopt and sign as a correct record the confidential Council minutes of the special meeting held on 29 June 2017 to follow.

RESOLVED: to approve the confidential minutes of the special Council meeting held on 29 June 2017 as a correct record and agree that the Chairman sign them as such.