Agenda item

To consider the report of the interim head of development, regeneration and housing. 

Following the public consultation on the proposed delivery plan, the document has been updated to take into account feedback received.  The updated documents can be found here.   

Cabinet considered the report of the head of development, regeneration and housing.  The report set out the consultation response to the Didcot Garden Town draft delivery plan and set out proposed changes.  Cabinet was asked to approve the delivery plan.  

Cabinet recalled that Didcot had been granted garden town status by the government, following a joint bid by the council, Vale of White Horse District Council, Oxfordshire County Council, and the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.  The delivery plan document had been produced to set out actions to transform Didcot into a garden town, to detail the funding required for key projects, and to act as a prospectus to government to justify the need for funding to establish a delivery team, provide support for the governance arrangements, and initiate and deliver key projects.  The options before Cabinet were to approve the delivery plan as amended or to require further changes.  Scrutiny Committee had commended the report and supported the delivery plan.  

Cabinet considered that the approval of the delivery plan would be positive for Didcot and would address many of the negative impacts affecting economic and population growth in the area.  Didcot Garden Town was a high priority for the council and had attracted significant financial support to improve infrastructure.  Approving the plan would allow the actions to be implemented.  Cabinet agreed to approve the delivery plan and embed it as council policy.  Officers were asked to ensure planning decisions did not conflict with the Didcot Garden Town delivery plan. 

Cabinet welcomed the appointment of Elizabeth Paris as chair of the Didcot Garden Town Board and noted that the Board’s first meeting would be held in early November. 

RESOLVED: to 

(a)      approve the contents of the Didcot Garden Town Delivery Plan, set out in appendix 1 to the head of development, regeneration and housing’s report, and adopt it as a corporate policy document that sets out the council’s aspirations for managing Didcot’s future economic, housing and population growth;

(b)      require officers to incorporate the delivery plan into the council’s planning policy framework, through the production of a Didcot Garden Town development plan document and/or appropriate supplementary planning documents;

(c)       agree to appoint Elizabeth Paris, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, as the Chair of Didcot Garden Town Board for a period of up to four years;

(d)      agree that sub-groups operating under the auspices of the Didcot Garden Town Board are governed by an agreed set of operating guidelines, similar to those set out in appendix 2 to the head of development, regeneration and housing’s report, and that determining the final nature of these be delegated to the Didcot Garden Town Board, in consultation with the council’s head of legal and democratic services and lead Cabinet members;

(e)      agree that the Places for People “Placemaking Hub Framework Contract” (appendix 3 to the report) will be used to appoint future technical advisers to the Didcot Garden Town Board, in all areas apart from Lot 4 (Engineering Consultancy) where a wider competition should be run to appoint a suitable consultancy adviser in this service area;

(f)        authorise the chief executive, in consultation with both council leaders, to address the Didcot Garden Town staffing matters within the forthcoming restructuring proposals;

(g)       agree that previously received Department for Communities and Local Government’s capacity grant funding relating to Didcot Garden Town, which has still to be committed, will be made available to the Didcot Garden Town Delivery Group to facilitate implementation of the Didcot Garden Town Delivery Plan, subject to approved delegated authority levels and the application of normal council spending controls and reporting.