Agenda item

At its meeting on 6 October 2016 Cabinet will consider a report on the OxLEP Strategic Economic Plan (SEP). As part of that report Cabinet will consider the Joint Scrutiny Committee request that Cabinet defer its response to the SEP pending its consideration by Council. If Cabinet agree to this request Council will be invited to consider the SEP.

The report of the interim head of development, regeneration and housing, which Cabinet will consider on 6 October, is attached. 

A.   Dr Richard Harding, on behalf of Need Not Greed Oxfordshire, addressed Council and spoke to the following statement circulated to councillors prior to the meeting:

We welcome the decision taken at the Vale and South Joint Scrutiny Committee Meeting, endorsed by Cabinet last week that the revised SEP Refresh should be considered at Full Council. We have for some time demanded that our locally elected representatives have the opportunity to consider this most important of issues.

Today, local councillors have the chance to engage in robust debate on the revised SEP Refresh. We urge you take this final opportunity before the SEP Refresh is signed off, to seriously consider the impact that this plan will have on the future of Oxfordshire.

Need not Greed Oxfordshire believe the time has come for our Local Authorities to take full responsibility for the overall growth figures in the revised SEP 2016.

We are deeply concerned at the ‘pass-the-parcel’ game being played by OxLEP and our district and county councils, with each blaming the other for the inflated and unrealistic targets for employment and housing.

We believe this plan sets very damaging and unrealistic growth targets which would radically change Oxfordshire’s communities and environment - today, you - our elected representatives, have the opportunity to have your say.

• Do you genuinely believe we can create 85,000 jobs by 2031?
• Do you genuinely believe we can build 100,000 houses by 2031?  Are you prepared for the consequences when this target isn’t met and we see an increase in the speculative development that is already blighting so many of our communities?
• Do you genuinely think the development currently proposed will solve the affordable housing issues we have in the County?
• Do you genuinely think that Oxfordshire, the most rural county in the south-east, is the right place to accommodate a 30% increase in population by 2031?

If your answer to any of these questions is NO, we urge you to speak out against OxLEP’s Strategic Economic Plan as currently drafted at today’s meeting.

Need not Greed Oxon want to see an alternative approach to growth in our county.

We are calling for a review of the economic growth figures and by association the housing figures, for the county outlined in the revised SEP Refresh, in the light of:

1. The implications of Brexit.
2. The social and environmental constraints - ie not just ‘how much growth can we get’ but also ‘how much growth can our infrastructure, services and environment absorb’.
3. A re-consideration of the priorities for action - ie how to provide affordable housing for existing local residents, rather than seeking to attract ever more people into the area making the jobs versus housing balance worse.
4. Genuine public consultation on the future vision for Oxfordshire.

Our question to you today is:

As our elected representative, will you take a stand today and help force re-consideration of these overly aggressive and unrealistic growth targets that make no allowances for Brexit and that take little account of environmental and social impacts?

B.    Dr Roberts of Ecomorph made the following points:

·         The extra housing resulting from unrealistic growth figures in the SEP Refresh will produce further unsustainable development

·         The requirement for sustainable building of homes to Code Level 4 is not currently achieved. Councils should insist on these levels of sustainability - but they do not. Development underway is unsustainable as it is not built to this required standard. 

·         Wiltshire County Council require higher energy efficient homes and the Mayor of London has stated that all new homes should be zero carbon. Unless new homes are zero-carbon, they increase our carbon emissions. If development increases our carbon emissions, it is not sustainable.

C.   Mr Nigel Tipple, Chief Executive of the Local enterprise Partnership, addressed Council on this item. He undertook to provide a written response to the questions raised in paragraph 10 of the Cabinet report for inclusion in the minutes (see appendix).

Council considered Cabinet’s recommendation, made at its meeting on 6 October 2016, on the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) Strategic Economic Plan.  As part of that report Cabinet considered and supported the Joint Scrutiny Committee request that Cabinet defer its response to the SEP pending its consideration by Council.      

The following points were raised during the discussion:

• The map detailing Oxfordshire’s growth corridors (Figure 10) was unhelpful since it covered most of the county apart from Thame and Chinnor.

·         The plan is housing led with aspirational employment figures.

·         Development would impact on the countryside and threaten the green spaces between the villages and larger towns particularly around Didcot.

• The plan should focus more on supporting self employment.
• The continuing problems of broadband connectivity had not been addressed.
• The increase in house building without a commitment to renewable energy/zero emissions will increase carbon emissions and prove unsustainable.
• A risk register should be included as an appendix to the SEP.

• Oxford City Council continued to allocate land for employment whilst failing to provide housing which compounds the current housing shortage and transport problems.
• Affordable housing/social housing – there was a lack of suitable accommodation for key workers and those on lower incomes.  
• Infrastructure – the document should address the infrastructure problems (particularly transport connectivity).

A number of councillors remained sceptical that the SEP had a plan to address weaknesses and respond to threats and was not sufficiently strategic or visionary. It remained inward looking and provided an Oxford-centric perspective rather than addressing county-wide issues.

RESOLVED: to endorse the decision of Cabinet to:

(i)            welcome some of the changes made to the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan which seek to make it “shorter and clearer”, and acknowledge that this has largely been achieved;

(ii)           support the broad thrust of the Oxfordshire Strategic Economic Plan document in terms of the stated vision, identified strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and proposed actions; and

(iii)       believe the document would be more robust if it:

·      more fully addressed the issues highlighted in the body of the Cabinet report, and

·      more clearly linked actions to identified issues, and confirmed where responsibility lies for implementing these various actions,

and to note that the Leader will take account of points raised at Council in  responding to the consultation.