Agenda item


Motions

To debate the following motions which have been submitted with advance notice, in accordance with the constitution:

 

Climate Change

 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their October report stated that if the planet wants to avert dangerous climate breakdown, we need to cut emissions in half by 2030, and hit zero by the middle of the century.

 

Oxfordshire is already doing its bit: we are committed to reducing emissions from our own estate and activities by 3% a year. Unfortunately, our current plans are not enough. The IPCC’s report suggests that the world has just a dozen years left to restrict global warming to 1.5? above pre-industrial levels. Should they increase by 2?, humanity’s capacity to prevent catastrophic food shortages, floods, droughts, extreme heat and poverty will be severely impaired. Limiting Global Warming to 1.5? may still be possible, but only with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities. Furthermore, bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities.

 

Cherwell District Council calls on the Leader to:

 

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;

2. Pledge to make Cherwell District Council carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions;

3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;

4. Continue to work with partners across the Cherwell and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies;

5. Report to Council within six months with the actions the Council will take to address this emergency.

 

Proposer: Councillor Mark Cherry

Seconder: To be advised

 

 

Cherwell Local Plan

 

This council notes:

1.       That when he approved the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031, the planning inspector stated that a review of the plan should be carried out “once the specific level of help required by the city of Oxford to meet its needs that cannot reasonably be met within its present confines, is fully and accurately defined”

2.       That questions and comments raised recently by Jonathan Bore and Nick Fagan, the inspectors reviewing the Oxford Local Plan 2036, along with other recent studies, have cast doubt on the assumptions underlying Oxford’s housing need, suggesting that it has not been “fully and accurately defined” and may have been over-estimated and based on outdated data.

3.       That recent announcements from the University of Oxford as to their plans for development as part of the partial review raises concerns that removal of substantial amounts of the green belt will not in fact deal with unmet housing need in Oxford.

4.     That as a result of the above, the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031 (Part1) Partial Review – Oxford’s Unmet Housing Need could be premature, based on potentially inaccurate information, and could lead to outcomes which differ significantly from expectations.


This council therefore agrees:

 

1.       The ‘working assumption’ of Oxford’s housing need can no longer be relied on as an accurate figure and should be urgently reviewed.

2.       That the planning inspector’s report into the Cherwell partial review should only be considered alongside the Oxford City local plan once it has been examined and published, and Oxford’s need is “fully and accurately defined”.

3.       That in the meantime, the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031 (Part1) Partial Review should be suspended, and no land under consideration as part of the review should be removed from green belt protection.

4.       That expansion of the Begbroke Science Park and the building of reserved housing for the university on green belt land has no bearing on Oxford’s unmet housing need and should be subject to a separate and specific planning policy review and inquiry.

 

Proposer: Councillor Ian Middleton

Seconder: Councillor Conrad Copeland

 

Decision:

Resolved

 

(1)            That the following motion, as amended, be adopted:

 

Cherwell District Council calls on the Leader to:

 

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;

2. Pledge to make Cherwell District Council carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions;

3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;

4. Continue to work with partners across the Cherwell and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies;

5. Endorse the cross party position taken by LGA, in particular to call on HMG to explore supporting domestic implementation of Sustainable Development Goals through funded partnership roles within each local authority area;

6. Report to Council within six months with the actions the Council will take to address this emergency.

 

 

Minutes:

The Chairman advised that two motions had been submitted and would be debated in the order submitted. Members of the public who had registered to speak on either of the motions would be invited to address Council at the start of the relevant motion prior to the proposer of the motion presenting their motion to Council.

 

a) Climate Change

 

The Chairman invited Bicester Town Councillor, Robert Nixon, who had registered to speak on the motion, to address Council.

 

It was moved by Councillor Cherry and seconded by Councillor Dhesi that the following motion be adopted:

 

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their October report stated that if the planet wants to avert dangerous climate breakdown, we need to cut emissions in half by 2030, and hit zero by the middle of the century.

 

Oxfordshire is already doing its bit: we are committed to reducing emissions from our own estate and activities by 3% a year. Unfortunately, our current plans are not enough. The IPCC’s report suggests that the world has just a dozen years left to restrict global warming to 1.5? above pre-industrial levels. Should they increase by 2?, humanity’s capacity to prevent catastrophic food shortages, floods, droughts, extreme heat and poverty will be severely impaired. Limiting Global Warming to 1.5? may still be possible, but only with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities. Furthermore, bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities.

 

Cherwell District Council calls on the Leader to:

 

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;

2. Pledge to make Cherwell District Council carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions;

3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;

4. Continue to work with partners across the Cherwell and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies;

5. Report to Council within six months with the actions the Council will take to address this emergency.”

 

The Chairman referred to the amendment submitted by Councillor McHugh which had been circulated prior to the meeting.

 

Councillor McHugh proposed the following amendment to the motion, which was duly seconded by Councillor Sames.

 

Add the following after point “4” as “5” and the current “5” will become “6”,

 

“endorse the cross party position taken by the LGA, in particular to call on HMG to explore supporting domestic implementation of Sustainable Development Goals through funded partnership roles within each local authority area.” 

 

Councillor Cherry confirmed that he was happy to accept the amendment to the motion. The Chairman advised that being the case, as proposed and seconded at the very start of the debate and the proposer of the motion having accepted it, the amendment was taken as a friendly amendment and would not be debated but included with the submitted motion for Council to debate.

 

The motion as amended was debated and on being put to the vote was carried.  

 

b) Cherwell Local Plan

 

The Chairman invited those people who had registered to address Council on the item to speak prior to Council’s consideration of the item. Council heard from the following public speakers:

 

Graham Thompson, Chairman of Yarnton Parish Council

Pam Roberts, on behalf of CPRE Oxfordshire

Giles Lewis, on behalf of Cherwell Development Watch, of which he was Chair, and Begbroke & Yarnton Green Belt Campaign, of which he was Chair

 

It was moved by Councillor Middleton and seconded by Councillor Copeland that the following motion be adopted:

 

“This council notes:

1.       That when he approved the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031, the planning inspector stated that a review of the plan should be carried out “once the specific level of help required by the city of Oxford to meet its needs that cannot reasonably be met within its present confines, is fully and accurately defined”

2.       That questions and comments raised recently by Jonathan Bore and Nick Fagan, the inspectors reviewing the Oxford Local Plan 2036, along with other recent studies, have cast doubt on the assumptions underlying Oxford’s housing need, suggesting that it has not been “fully and accurately defined” and may have been over-estimated and based on outdated data.

3.       That recent announcements from the University of Oxford as to their plans for development as part of the partial review raises concerns that removal of substantial amounts of the green belt will not in fact deal with unmet housing need in Oxford.

4.     That as a result of the above, the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031 (Part1) Partial Review – Oxford’s Unmet Housing Need could be premature, based on potentially inaccurate information, and could lead to outcomes which differ significantly from expectations.


This council therefore agrees:

 

1.       The ‘working assumption’ of Oxford’s housing need can no longer be relied on as an accurate figure and should be urgently reviewed.

2.       That the planning inspector’s report into the Cherwell partial review should only be considered alongside the Oxford City local plan once it has been examined and published, and Oxford’s need is “fully and accurately defined”.

3.       That in the meantime, the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031 (Part1) Partial Review should be suspended, and no land under consideration as part of the review should be removed from green belt protection.

4.       That expansion of the Begbroke Science Park and the building of reserved housing for the university on green belt land has no bearing on Oxford’s unmet housing need and should be subject to a separate and specific planning policy review and inquiry.”

 

The Chairman referred to the amendment submitted by Councillor Woodcock which had been circulated prior to the meeting.

 

Councillor Woodcock proposed the following amendment to the motion, which was duly seconded by Councillor Richards.

 

“This council notes:

 

1.     That when he approved the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031, the planning inspector stated that a review of the plan should be carried out “once the specific level of help required by the city of Oxford to meet its needs that cannot reasonably be met within its present confines, is fully and accurately defined”

2.       That recent announcements from the University of Oxford as to their plans for development as part of the partial review raises concerns that removal of substantial amounts of the green belt will not in fact deal with unmet housing need in Oxford.

3.     That as a result of the above, the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031 (Part1) Partial Review – Oxford’s Unmet Housing Need could lead to outcomes which differ significantly from expectations.


This council therefore agrees:

 

1.       That in line with the Inspector’s most recent letter, the Cherwell Local Plan 2011 – 2031 (Part1) Partial Review should be subject to an urgent review so that no land under consideration as part of the review should be removed from green belt protection without consideration of all potential sites.

2.       That expansion of the Begbroke Science Park and the building of reserved housing for the university on green belt land has no bearing on Oxford’s unmet housing need and should be subject to a separate and specific planning policy review and inquiry.”

 

The amendment to the motion was debated and on being put to the vote, the amendment was approved.

 

The motion as amended was debated and on being put to the vote, was lost.

 

Resolved

 

(1)            That the following motion, as amended, be adopted:

 

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in their October report stated that if the planet wants to avert dangerous climate breakdown, we need to cut emissions in half by 2030, and hit zero by the middle of the century.

 

Oxfordshire is already doing its bit: we are committed to reducing emissions from our own estate and activities by 3% a year. Unfortunately, our current plans are not enough. The IPCC’s report suggests that the world has just a dozen years left to restrict global warming to 1.5? above pre-industrial levels. Should they increase by 2?, humanity’s capacity to prevent catastrophic food shortages, floods, droughts, extreme heat and poverty will be severely impaired. Limiting Global Warming to 1.5? may still be possible, but only with ambitious action from national and sub-national authorities, civil society, the private sector, indigenous peoples and local communities. Furthermore, bold climate action can deliver economic benefits in terms of new jobs, economic savings and market opportunities.

 

Cherwell District Council calls on the Leader to:

 

1. Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’;

2. Pledge to make Cherwell District Council carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions;

3. Call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;

4. Continue to work with partners across the Cherwell and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies;

5. Endorse the cross party position taken by LGA, in particular to call on HMG to explore supporting domestic implementation of Sustainable Development Goals through funded partnership roles within each local authority area;

6. Report to Council within six months with the actions the Council will take to address this emergency.”

 

Supporting documents: