Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting. 

Members declared interest with regard to the following agenda items:

6. Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2009/10.

Councillor Alastair Milne Home, Personal, as a Member of the Board of the Banbury Community Transport Association.

Councillor P A O'Sullivan, Personal, as Cherwell District Council's elected Member representative on the Board of the Banbury Community Transport Association.

The Chairman to advise whether they have agreed to any item of urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

There was no urgent business.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2010.

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 25 January 2010 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

This is an opportunity for the Committee to question officers from Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire County Council who are involved in the provision of youth services and specifically in activities which promote the democratic engagement of young people.

Representatives from the UK Youth Parliament and Banbury School pupils taking part in the Councillor Shadowing programme have also been invited to attend the meeting.

There will be a private briefing session for members of the Committee to prepare for this agenda item starting at 6.00pm.  Members are reminded that they are asked to forward any questions or specific topics that they wish to raise in the discussion to the Scrutiny Officer in advance of the meeting.

The Chairman explained that this was an opportunity for the Committee to question officers from Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire County Council who were involved in the provision of youth services and specifically in activities which promote the democratic engagement of young people. He welcomed the following guests:

• Francesca Heffernan, Decision Making and Young People Worker, Oxfordshire County Council
• Emily Little, Involvement Officer, Participation and Play, Oxfordshire County Council
• Phil Rolls, Recreation and Health Improvement Manager, Cherwell District Council

The Chairman also welcomed the two pupils from Banbury School, a pupil and teacher from Frank Wise School and Councillor Carol Steward. The pupils were all members of their respective school youth councils and, together with Councillor Steward, were participating in the Local Councillor Shadowing programme. 

The Chairman began by asking the representatives from Oxfordshire County Council to outline their roles.

Francesca Heffernan explained that her post involved engaging young people in north Oxfordshire in three distinct areas: Integrated Youth Support Services (IYSS); Connexions; and, the youth offending service. Ms. Heffernan advised the Committee that there were three funds available to support youth projects, youth groups, activities and facilities in Oxfordshire: the Chill Out Fund; Youth Opportunities; and, the Youth Capital Fund.  Ms. Heffernan worked within the Participation Team which helped young people get involved in the decision-making process for the latter two funds. The Committee was advised that the Participation Workers also supported and helped build up the youth forums in the district.

Emily Little explained that her post included coordinating and facilitating the Oxfordshire Youth Parliament and coordinating and supporting the annual cycle of UK Youth Parliament elections across the county. In addition, she supported the Members and Deputy Members of the Youth Parliament during their term of office.

In the course of the discussion and questioning the following points emerged:

Youth Forums/Councils

Francesca Heffernan explained that at present in Cherwell there was an established youth council in Bicester, a youth forum in Banbury and a newly formed youth forum in Kidlington. Work was currently underway to establish a North Youth Forum which would be held three times a year and bring together the youth forums in the north and west of the county.

Members were interested to learn about how the outcomes and impact of the youth forums/parliament were measured and monitored. The Oxfordshire County Council representatives reported that there were many successful outcomes however acknowledged it was difficult to monitor the impact. They reported that from the perspective of the young people, success could be measured by their achievements and cited the examples of the Bicester Youth Council who had led the introduction of a recycling initiative in schools in the town; the manifesto of the UK Youth Parliament which had included promoting positive images of young people and had led to the production of a DVD entitled “the youth of today” which explored the reasons for the negative images of young people and highlighted the positive work of young people.

In response to questions,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

Summary

To agree topics for future meetings, to identify issues arising from the Forward Plan (February – May 2010) and to monitor the status of items on the work programme.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural, the Head of Urban and Rural Services and the Head of Head of Safer Communities & Community Development will be present at the meeting to discuss progress against the scrutiny recommendations on Markets and Concessionary Travel.

Recommendations

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:

(1)               Note the current overview and scrutiny work programme for 2009/10 and make amendments as necessary;

(2)               Note the contents of the Forward Plan and identify any possible topics for scrutiny;

(3)               Note the progress against the scrutiny recommendations on the future of markets in the district;

(4)               Note the progress against the scrutiny recommendations on Concessionary Travel.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services on the overview and scrutiny work programme 2009/10.

Existing Work Programme

The Committee noted the contents of the report and the existing work programme for 2009/10.  Members noted that the Task and Finish Group on Anti-Social Behaviour would be meeting on 11 February 2010 to consider the Group’s recommendations to Executive.  Members requested that the report be brought to their March meeting for discussion prior to submission to the Executive as there appeared to be a number of areas that overlapped with the Committee’s review on youth engagement.

Forward Plan

The Committee did not identify any further items from the Forward Plan for inclusion on their work programme.

Scheduling

Tackling Deprivation

The Committee observed that “tackling deprivation” was too broad an area to be included on the work programme as a potential scrutiny topic.  However, they agreed that they would consider deprivation at their next meeting but only in relation to planning policy issues and Houses of Multiple Occupancy.

Built Environment Conservation Areas

The Committee noted that the Portfolio Holder Planning and Housing, the Strategic Director Planning and Housing and officers from Housing and Planning would attend the March meeting to brief Members on this issue.  The briefing would cover the existing planning policies and regulations applicable to conservation areas; additional policies and controls that might be applied to conservation areas; and the relationship between Houses of Multiple Occupancy and deprivation.  

Following the briefing the Committee would be in a position to determine whether to make recommendations to the Executive or to add the topic to their work programme for more detailed scrutiny in 2010/11.

The Chairman asked Councillor Bonner, who had raised the topic, to produce a short note outlining her concerns and issues with regard to this topic.  The Scrutiny Officer would circulate the note to the Committee and officers in advance of the March meeting.

Phone Access and Telephony Review

The Scrutiny Officer advised the Committee that their request for the Executive to consider this item at their later March or April meeting to enable the Committee to consider the report had not yet been confirmed. The Scrutiny Officer agreed to progress this and advise Members once a decision had been reached.

Monitoring

Markets

The Portfolio Holder Community Safety, Street Scene and Rural and the Head of Urban and Rural Services updated Members on the progress with regard to the district’s markets, in particular the appointment of a market operator for Banbury market, since the Committee’s meeting on 10 November 2009.

In response to questions, the Head of Urban and Rural Services advised Members that the newly appointed market operator would assume formal responsibility for Banbury market on 1 April 2011.  He confirmed that although the Council and the market operator would be working in partnership to deliver improvements to Banbury market, the relationship was underpinned by a formal contract that included appropriate break clauses and termination options.  He reassured Members that the market  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.