Content

Resolved
 

(1)         
That the following
motion be adopted:
 
“Storm Bert brought
significant flooding across the district. The flooding brought with
it contamination of groundwater with sewage which then spilt onto
roads and property across the district.
 
It is accepted that, in many
cases, the sewage and drainage infrastructure is notable to cope
with the new and increasing volumes of rainwater. However, the
problems of flooding with inadequate infrastructure are compounded
by a lack of routine maintenance. In the face of increased volumes
of rainwater. We note that the number of gully’s cleaned by
Oxfordshire County Council each year has dropped significantly over
the last five years. It becomes more urgent for the county council,
who have the primary responsibility for this, to increase their
routine maintenance of drainage gullies, and where necessary,
install drainage sumps to cope with increased water flows.
 
We call on the leader of the
Council to write to The Leader and Chief Executive Oxfordshire
County Council to urge Oxfordshire County Council to do more to
alleviate the misery caused to Cherwell residents by increasing
their flood prevention activities such as gulley clearance.
 
Furthermore, we call on the
county council to initiate a program of proactive gulley clearance,
and any other prophylactic measures that may be deemed necessary,
at known flooding hot spots on receipt of severe weather
warnings.”
 

(NB. The amendment to the motion having been proposed and seconded
was duly debated. On being put to the vote, the amendment was lost
and duly fell.)
 

(2)         
That the following
motion be agreed:
 
“Recalling its motion
of 21 October 2024, this Council further regrets that Oxfordshire
has not historically managed the expenditure of development
agreements well. It also recognises that the law in this area must
be more flexible to ensure that communities receive the
improvements in infrastructure that are right for them as
circumstances change.
 
Despite this District having
taken its fair share of new homes in recent years, too often,
development monies have gone unspent with elected members and
parish colleagues forced to make circuitous enquiries of Council
officers and developers to establish what local funds exist and
when they might reasonably be spent.
 
Following work undertaken by
Oxfordshire County Council’s Performance &Corporate
Services and Place Overview & Scrutiny Committees, and research
conducted by the Homebuilders’ Federation, £8 billion
of developers’ contributions stand to be spent nationwide
with Oxfordshire the worst-performing county in the country,
holding £287.5 million.
 
This Council requests the
Leader to write to:
 
1.   
The Leader of Oxfordshire County Council to agree a more effective
mechanism for ensuring that development monies are spent; and
2.   
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local
Government to request that the law be updated to introduce a
presumption of reasonable expenditure on the part of local
authorities or such other device as
would enable Councils to spend money on improving local facilities
that could not otherwise be envisaged when development agreements
are signed.”
 

(3)         
That the following
motion be agreed:
 
“This Council
considers that the government’s changes in its Autumn budget
to Inheritance Tax treatment of farmland, increases to
employers’ National Insurance and introduction of a new
fertiliser tax on key agricultural imports will have detrimental
cumulative impact on family farms across North Oxfordshire.
 
This Council notes
with concern that these family farm taxes risk:
 
·        
Adversely affecting local farmers’ potential to employ people
across North Oxfordshire’s rural economy;
·        
Damaging the ability for family farmers to pass on their farms to
their children; and,
·        
Making food production at competitive prices more difficult for us
as a district.
 
This Council
resolves:
 
1.   
to ask Executive to review that its policies are as supportive of
local farmers as reasonably possible.
2.   
to ask the Leader to write to the Leader of Oxfordshire County
Council to request that the newly integrated Oxfordshire Local
Enterprise Partnership (‘OxLEP’) prioritises the local rural economy
in its governance structure Andon going development of its
strategic plan, both of which are now under active
consideration.
3.   
to ask the Leader to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and
Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to
ask that introduction of these family farm taxes be reconsidered
for the sake of environmental protection and food
security.”