Members of the Board to update one another on key matters of importance relevant to the Local Nature Partnership arising since the previous meeting, including feedback from the Future Oxfordshire Partnership process.
Minutes:
The Chair invited members of the Board to raise any matters of note, interest or concern at a local or national level which might impact on Oxfordshire’s natural environment or the LNP.
Prue Addison, spoke to the project by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust to reconnect the Bernwood, Otmoor and Ray landscapes which after 18 months was coming to a close and encouraged members of the Board to peruse a report on the project which had covered some 300km2 of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The next steps were to take forward the additional project ideas suggested by stakeholders and linked grant applications were being worked on.
Rosie Rowe highlighted that consultation was about to begin as part of the process of creating and updating a new Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Oxfordshire. This a strategic level document that covered not just the health and social care sectors but also a wide range of partners over a five year period. It was relevant to master planning and Local Plan processes in order that developers responded to the health priorities and challenges within in it when submitting development proposals.
Feedback from public consultation already had demonstrated the importance of mental health and the connection between access to nature and good mental health and it was likely that this would form a major priority within the new strategy as it progress. It was expected that the document would be considered by the Health and Wellbeing Board in January 20224 and it would also be brought to a meeting of the Future Oxfordshire Partnership for information.
Councillor David Rouane informed the Board that the Future Oxfordshire Partnership was holding a focus and delivery workshop on 26 September to consider its future purpose and work programme in light of the coming to the end of Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal which had shaped its original remit and scope. The Board was also updated on HM Government’s decision to transfer the functions of local enterprise partnerships including OxLEP to upper tier local authorities such as Oxfordshire County Council from 2024 and that a transition plan was being developed between OxLEP and the County Council.
Councillor Rouane referred to the preparation by OxLEP of an updated draft of Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan which was due to consider by the Future Oxfordshire Partnership at its next meeting. A number of public workshops had been which members of the Board may have attended, but feedback he had received on the latest draft of the Plan following these events was that is unclear how the comments made by those at the workshops had been addressed and pertinent to LNP’s role, agriculture as a form of economic activity was felt to have not been recognised. In addition, it had appeared in this draft that only three of the nine priorities of the Oxfordshire Strategic Plan had been addressed.
Action: That the link to the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan be circulated to the Board for information when available.
It was noted that HM Government had still yet to publish the National Planning Policy Framework, (NPPF).
Michelle Leek updated the Board that Natural England had recently been undertaking an exercise to identify priority places where the agency could focus its efforts and resources to maximum effect in securing nature recovery. She was pleased to confirm that one of these areas would be within Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire to be known as the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Vale, broadly mirroring the geography of this part of the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Arc. Engagement with partners would take place with the possibility of funding being available.
Professor David Macdonald commented that he had received a significant amount of correspondence in relation to the launch of the latest badger cull. The cull was in his view extremely controversial and based on an evidence base that was at best highly disputed. Irrespective of the welfare implications of a cull, from a biodiversity point of view, the removal of such a large number of apex predators would have a significant effect on ecosystems.
The Chair commented he felt that the LNP should not shy away from considering and potentially taking a position on the wider ecosystem impacts of a cull and that Professor Macdonald’s knowledge, experience, and recommendations on what was a very difficult issue would be very welcome.
Camilla Burrow informed the Board that Wild Oxfordshire was working in partnership with Community First Oxfordshire to offer a service around community led stewardship for new developments whereby residents would be encouraged and supported to look after their own green spaces and improve them for nature. The initiative was to be launched at an event on 15 September and represented an opportunity to demonstrate how communities could take more control of their nature assets.
Wild Oxfordshire was also working with the Earth Trust and a number of the other nature conservation and environmental charities within Oxfordshire to raise awareness around the Wildlife and Countryside Link Nature 2030 campaign which urged the public to encourage local politicians to consider nature properly within policy making.
With regard to the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan, she commented that she felt that it had been a missed opportunity for OxLEP to not to have taken a co-design approach to the Plan with the LNP given the breadth of knowledge available on environmental issues.