The Council of Vale of White Horse is scheduled to note a report on the activities of the Joint Audit and Governance Committee, to discuss the adoption of a revised Gambling Policy, and to decide whether to approve modifications to its Council Tax Reduction scheme. The Council is also scheduled to consider whether to approve a motion on flooding.

Flooding

Councillor Emily Smith previously asked Councillor Bethia Thomas, Leader of the council, for an update on the Oxford Station project, asking when Botley Road would re-open. The agenda for this meeting includes a motion, proposed by Councillor Maddison and seconded by Councillor Stevens, asking the Council to write to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and to the Environment Agency, to ask for increased funding for flood defences in the Vale.

To write to the Secretary of State asking for the government to review whether the level of resources spent on flood prevention and mitigation is high enough, and whether the formula used for allocating funds to the Vale of the White Horse District is adequate.

The motion also asks the Council to:

• continue to work with the EA, the County Council and other organisations to prevent flooding and to mitigate its impact, and
• promote the use of the Oxfordshire Flood Toolkit and support town and parish councils and community groups in creating more resilient communities.

Gambling Policy

The Licensing Acts Committee has recommended that the Council adopt a proposed revision to its Joint Gambling Policy.

The proposed policy says that applications for new premises licenses will be expected to include evidence that the applicant understands the relevant legislation. It also says that:

Applicants shall be expected to demonstrate how their application will be consistent with the licensing objectives and taking into account the local area profile produced by the councils and publicly available data in relation to crime, anti-social behaviour and gambling harm in the specific locality’.

The policy contains a resolution that the Vale of White Horse District Council will continue to refuse all applications for casino licenses, and says that any such applications would not be considered. The policy says that South Oxfordshire District Council will also refuse applications for casino licenses.

The Committee has also recommended that the Council authorises the Head of Communities to make minor editorial changes to the policy.

Council Tax Reduction Scheme

The Council is scheduled to consider whether to approve a recommendation made by the Cabinet to make a change to the Council Tax Reduction scheme, extending the period for which a new claim for Council Tax Reduction can be backdated from six months to twelve months.

The report pack explains that this change has been proposed in response to a perceived increase in the number of vulnerable people being unable to make a claim for support within six months.

S106 Funding

The Council is scheduled to consider a recommendation from the Cabinet that it create a budget of £278,860 from a Section 106¹ contribution from a housing development to fund the construction of sports pitches and a cricket wicket at Walnut Meadow in Drayton.

Wantage Leisure Centre

Councillor Katherine Foxhall has previously asked Councillor Diana Lugova, Cabinet member for Planning, about unspent Section 106 contributions in the Vale. This meeting’s agenda includes a recommendation from the Cabinet that the Council approve the use of Section 106 contributions to fund the Wantage Leisure Centre Salix Phase 3b decarbonisation project. The agenda does not specify what works this project will pay for.

Councillors' Allowances

The Council is scheduled to consider the recommendations of the Joint Independent Remuneration Panel on a revised councillors' allowances scheme.

The Panel has recommended that the basic allowance for all councillors be increased to £8,391 per year. This amount has been calculated using a national average hourly pay rate of £20.07 and a public service discount of 33% applied to the 12 hours per week the Panel found was the average time commitment required by a Councillor with no special responsibilities.

Discounting attendance at political meetings (which we judged to be centred upon internal political management), we find that the average time commitment required to execute the role of a councillor with no special responsibilities is around 12 hours per week.

The Panel has also recommended that the allowance for the Leader of the Council should be 350% of the basic allowance, which would equate to £29,369 per year.

The report pack contains details of the Panel's other recommendations, including details of the special responsibility allowances for the Deputy Leader, Cabinet members, and the chairs of various committees.

The report pack notes that the Panel has recommended that no councillor should be able to receive more than one Special Responsibility Allowance, and that the Council should work towards a maximum of 50% of councillors receiving an allowance at any one time.

WE THEREFORE RECOMMEND that that no councillor shall be entitled to receive at any time more than one Special Responsibility Allowance and that this One SRA Only Rule be adopted into the Scheme of Allowances.

Future Oxfordshire Partnership

The agenda includes a report providing an update on the Future Oxfordshire Partnership’s activities.

The report says that the Future Oxfordshire Partnership is being replaced by a statutory Joint Committee, called the Oxfordshire Leaders’ Board. It says that officers are currently developing plans for the Board, which will be considered at the next meeting of the Future Oxfordshire Partnership Board, scheduled to be held on 28 January 2025.

The report also discusses the Future Oxfordshire Partnership Scrutiny Panel's response to the proposed changes.

That if a joint statutory committee of the Leaders is reconstituted as a successor to the Future Oxfordshire Partnership, consideration of an overview and scrutiny function be central to its design and that this be affirmed by the Partnership.

The Scrutiny Panel has also recommended that:

• in advance of any final decision about the Partnership’s successor a full financial breakdown of all costs, covering the current and proposed support arrangements including meeting arrangements may be beneficial;
• the Partnership agree and affirm that in seeking to maximise opportunities for investment and funding in Oxfordshire, any successor joint committee to the Partnership should act in accordance with the agreed principles of sustainable growth set out in the Oxfordshire Strategic Vision; and
• there be clarity around the governance arrangements of any successor to the Partnership in respect of voting arrangements, quorum and safeguards for individual constituent authorities who do not support a proposition adopted by the joint committee.

The report confirms that the Wantage Link Road is expected to open on 5 December 2024, and says that construction of the Abingdon, Lodge Hill, and Steventon Lights schemes will commence imminently.

Public Questions

The Council is scheduled to consider questions from the public, including:

• a question from Councillor James about whether it is possible to provide online access to Council meetings before the planned move to a new headquarters in Didcot Gateway in 2027;
• a question from Councillor Patel about the provision of swimming pool facilities in Shrivenham;
• a question from Councillor de la Harpe about whether the Council should stop using X (formerly Twitter) because of concerns that it is being used as a party-political mouthpiece; and
• a question from Councillor Gascoigne about the provision of GP surgeries in Didcot and the surrounding villages.