Agenda item

Members of the public may ask questions of the Chairman of the Growth Board, or address the Growth Board on any substantive item at a meeting, subject to the restrictions set out in the public participation scheme. 

The total amount of time allowed for public participation at a meeting shall not exceed 30 minutes, unless the Chairman consents to extend that time in the interests of the proper conduct of the business of the Growth Board. 

A person speaking to the Growth Board may speak for up to three minutes.  Board members may ask questions for clarification. 

Asking a question

Questions (in full and in writing) must be received by 5pm on three working days before the Growth Board meeting.  A written or verbal answer will be provided by the Chairman at the meeting.  The questioner may ask a supplementary question directly related to either the original question or the reply received. 

Addressing the Board

Notice of a wish to address the Growth Board by making a statement on a substantive agenda item must be received by 12 noon on the working day before the Growth Board meeting. 

Petitions

Petitions on matters directly relevant to matters in which the Growth Board has powers and duties must be received by 5pm on three working days before the Growth Board meeting.  The representative of the petitioners may speak.  Petitions are referred without discussion to the next meeting. 

Questions, petitions and notice of addresses must be submitted to democratic.services@oxfordshiregrowthboard.org or delivered/posted to Democratic Services, Oxfordshire Growth Board, Strategy and Insight, South Oxfordshire District Council, 135 Eastern Avenue, Milton Park, Milton, OX14 4SB. 

The Growth Board received two public questions and one statement from members of the public:

1.      Question from by Jo Allen, Chair of Upper Heyford Parish Council. (In her absence the question was deemed to have been put).

We are strongly of the view that the Growth Board, in administering the production of the Oxfordshire 2050 Plan, must take into account the impacts that a huge increase in the growth of housing and businesses in Oxfordshire will have on the following:

- growth in energy use 

- growth in water use 

- growth in waste created (rubbish, sewage etc)

- growth in traffic and pollution

- growth in noise and light pollution

- decrease in green space, diminished rural environment and displacement of wildlife.

It is also essential to include the impacts of major growth on local public services, for example:

- NHS services: hospitals, GP surgeries, ambulance services, etc

- Schools

- Police services

These important community services are not being enabled to grow in parallel with all the extra growth in housing and increased population that is proposed. This problem needs to be addressed by the Growth Board before decisions about more housing are made. Local people should not have to pay the price for increased housing by seeing their public services further diminished, while traffic and pollution increase.

It is time to look holistically, and to consider our existing communities in Oxfordshire. We are not Nimbys but insist that we should be valued, and our views taken into proper consideration. It is not enough to give money to 'mitigate' outcomes that are not capable of being mitigated.   

Frontline services (such as Thames Water, police, GPs, schools etc.) are very important sources of information in the planning process because they are already having to try to accommodate an increased population on decreasing budgets and are struggling to deliver decent services. It is essential that their first-hand experience is made available to fully inform the Growth Board when such huge decisions are being made. Representatives of frontline public services must, therefore, be included on the Growth Board together with representatives from community organisations and Parish Councils and representatives for the environment and wildlife.  

Oxfordshire Growth Board should be leading the way forward towards genuine sustainability and enhancing Oxfordshire - economically, socially and environmentally, all equally valued together, for present and future generations.

We would like to know how the Growth Board is going to ensure the issues raised above are addressed fully and how it will reassure existing communities that they have been listened to and the issues acted upon.

In response, the Chairman indicated that a full written answer would be provided to Councillor Allen, but that in summary that the issues raised were all fundamental concerns of good planning which the Oxfordshire Plan would strive for.

2.      Question from Sue Haywood on behalf of the coalition Planning for Real NEED not Speculator GREED in Oxfordshire.

Given that the Growth Board has made a commitment to enshrine sustainability into the process of the Oxfordshire Plan, in line with a request made by DEFRA at the September 2018 meeting, does the Board consider that it ought to be able to provide an explanation of how this will be achieved in practice and, if so, could it now explain in detail:

• How people with the appropriate skills for this complex and technical concept will be incorporated into the decision-making process (in the way that health place-shaping is being visibly embedded)?  For example, who is the sustainability expert on the JSSP Sub-Committee?  In the Project team?   In the Executive Officers’ group?
• It is welcome that the Growth Board and project teams for the Plan are engaging specialists for various technical work.  But who will set the scope for any specialists engaged, and who will assess and balance the information received, from responses to consultations as well as from expert reports, all of which requires a fundamental understanding of sustainability principles?
• And most importantly, how will issues such as social cohesion, the value of ecosystem services, and what scale of growth can be accommodated by various natural resources without depletion or harm over time, be championed and recognised in the decision-making structures as central to the Oxfordshire Plan 2050, rather than simply regarded as things on which any damage must be "reduced" as much as possible, or mitigated?

The Chairman responded that a full written answer would be provided, but that in summary 1) the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 (JSSP) was being developed in conjunction with the Sustainability Appraisal process and the Habitat Assessment process. 2) A range of pieces of technical work were included in the Oxfordshire Plan project and the output from this work would be feedback into the Oxfordshire Plan Team. 3) The issues of social cohesion, the value of ecosystem services and the scale of growth which could be accommodated were all fundamental concerns of good planning that the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 would aim for.

Sue Haywood asked a supplementary question to the Chairman. To me you have not provided an answer to the question.  With regard to the commissioning of specialist technical works, unless there is an officer with an ecological/sustainability understanding as part of the project team they would not be able to provide the technical specification for the works which needed to be done in conjunction with the plan.

The Chairman agreed to provide a written answer but commented that the points were taken on board.

3.         Mark Beddow addressed the Growth Board on the lack of reference in agenda items to global warming, and the necessity to consider CO₂ emissions from housing developments with particular reference to car use – despite the prominence of reports detailing the accelerating rate and consequences of warming.He commented that no one could expect that compounded growth was sustainable or possible in the 21^st century. Given this, it was necessary to focus on the efficiency of development, in particular the Oxford road transport network (with particular reference to the A34) and the related congestion, time lost, fuel burned, and appointments missed. The Board was informed that East Hendred Parish Council planning sub-committee had two proposals:

·           An accurate real-time traffic flow website for the A34 which would colour code traffic flow – in particular sections below 5 mph – with flow rate dial readings for all junctions from the M4 to the M40.

·           Congestion charging of HGVs using the A34 section from the M4 to the M40 between 7 and 9am, and between 5 and 7pm in both directions. Proceeds to be distributed between Berkshire and Oxfordshire pro-rata on the A34 sections.

Something had to be done.

The Chairman thanked Mr Beddow for his statement.