Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 30 November 2021 .

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 30 November 2021 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive communications from the Chairman.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

There were no items of urgent business.

Craig Bower, Programme Director of Digital Infrastructure Oxfordshire, will give a presentation updating the Committee on Full Fibre and 5G rollout across the district.

A copy of the presentation is included with the agenda. If Committee Members wish to ask questions on the item, they are encouraged to submit them to the Democratic and Elections Team in advance of the meeting.

Resolved

(1)        That the presentation be noted.

The Committee received a presentation from the Programme Director of Digital Infrastructure Oxfordshire, which gave an update on the progress of full fibre internet and 5G mobile signal rollout across the county.

Following the partnership with BT Openreach that had been in place since 2014, 14,000 premises in the district had been connected to superfast broadband services. 98.5% of the district now had access to superfast services, an increase from 63% when the programme started.

The percentage of premises with no access to a connection of at least 10 megabits per second (mbs), which was considered a minimum requirement for getting online, was currently 0.9%.

The Programme Director of Digital Infrastructure Oxfordshire explained that the focus of the current programme was to deliver full fibre connections to premises, rather than cabinets as had previously been the case. Openreach had published their rollout plans for delivery, and work to upgrade connections had been carried out in Banbury before Christmas 2021. A number of smaller providers would also be providing fibre services to property connections, but they had not publicly announced their plans due to commercial sensitivities. This made associated communications with affected areas difficult, as the upgrading of wires and poles involved roadworks and disruption to infrastructure. However, once the appropriate upgrades had been made and fibre connections were in place, it would be easier to make changes in the future.  

Regarding connection of business premises, the Programme Director of Digital Infrastructure Oxfordshire explained that since 2019, 230 businesses had been connected via funding from DEFRA. The businesses had been in some of the hardest to reach areas of the district, and therefore not viable for commercial providers to install connections. As the base infrastructure was now in place, it was hoped commercial providers would use the connections to further develop services in those areas. 

In October 2021 a new project had started called ‘Gigahubs’. 24 public service buildings across the district had been identified as hub sites, which would have fibre connections installed that could then be used to extend fibre connectivity to local residents and businesses.

In relation to mobile digital signal, the Programme Director of Digital Infrastructure Oxfordshire explained that the team had a focus on ‘small cell’ improvements. This involved the installation of small units on street furniture such as lampposts, to increase the available mobile signal. Initially the project would be rolled out to a small number of lampposts in Oxford, but it was hoped that by the end of 2023 up to 70 lampposts across the county would have the technology, including some in Banbury and Bicester.  

With regard to planning applications for new or upgraded mobile phone masts, the Programme Director of Digital Infrastructure Oxfordshire explained that discussions were ongoing with mobile phone providers to encourage them to go through the pre-application process before submitting an application. Doing so would allow discussions to take place regarding the suitability of proposed locations and possible alternative locations, increasing the possibility of an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

Report of Assistant Director – Planning and Development

***Please note this report will be to follow as it is being finalised***

Resolved

(1)       That the summary results from the recent regulation 18 (part 2) consultation be noted.

(2)       That the revised scope of the Oxfordshire Plan, with clarification over its relationship to city and district Local Plans and supporting evidence base be noted.

(3)       That the next steps of the Oxfordshire Plan process be noted.

(4)       That Executive be recommended to adopt the revised Statement of Community Involvement for the Oxfordshire Plan (Annex to the minutes as set out in the Minute Book) when it considers a report on this matter at its March 2022 meeting. 

The Committee considered a report from the Assistant Director – Planning and Development that gave an update from the Future Oxfordshire Partnership on the preparation of the Oxfordshire Plan 2050, and included a summary of comments received during the recent consultation.

The Assistant Director – Planning and Development gave a short presentation that highlighted the key aspects of the report.

All Oxfordshire district and city Scrutiny Committees were due to consider the same report during February, before a further report was submitted to all Executive and Cabinet meetings in March. The Statement of Community Involvement for the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 had been updated following the consultation stage, and was recommended to all Oxfordshire district and City Executive/Cabinets for approval.

The next stage of the plan process would be the Regulation 19 submission plan, that was currently scheduled for Summer 2022. Once this stage had been completed the plan would move to Regulation 22, submission of the plan to the Secretary of State to start the examination. This was currently scheduled for Autumn 2022, but the Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that detailed analysis of the consultation responses was still being undertaken, and timeframes for the subsequent stages of the plan could be amended.

422 parties had submitted responses to the consultation. Feedback had been generally positive, with widespread support for the approach to climate change adaptation, and general agreement regarding the need for more affordable homes across the county.

As well as the positive feedback, some responses had called for more say on the next iteration of the plan, as there was concern that proceeding straight to Regulation 19 stage wouldn’t give time for further consultation. The Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that it would be possible for the Future Oxfordshire team to proceed to Regulation 19, but they were considering all responses in detail before confirming the next stage.

Comments had also been submitted regarding a need for the plan to have long term flexibility due to the time scale it was proposed to cover.

The central plan team were now considering the scope of the proposed plan, and undertaking further work in relation to the latest legislation and national policy, as well as considering the relationship between the Oxfordshire Plan and the local plans of each authority across the county.

The detailed work programme would be reviewed, and discussions would take place with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities due to the plans link with the Growth Deal.

With regard to the Statement of Community Involvement update, the document detailed how consultation would be undertaken, when, and who would be consulted. It had been necessary to update the document following the lifting of Coronavirus regulations.

In response to questions from the Committee, the Assistant Director – Planning and Development explained that there was time for changes to be made to the plan if the central team felt they were necessary. Once a local plan reached Regulation 19 stage it was unlikely that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

There are three documents for the Committee to consider:

·         Appendix 1 – Work Programme for 2021-2022

·         Appendix 2 – Topic list update

·         Appendix 3 – Update on items previously submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Recommendations

The meeting is recommended:

1.1         To note the work programme update (appendix 1).

1.2         To note the update on topics previously suggested for review (appendix 2).

1.3         To note the update on items previously submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Resolved

(1)       That the work programme update be noted.

(2)       That the update on topics previously suggested for review be noted.

(3)       That the update on items previously submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted.

The Committee considered its work programme for 2021, received an update on subjects for review and on items previously submitted to the Committee.

With regard to the Member Training and District and Parish relationship working groups, Councillor Sandy Dallimore reported that both working groups had formulated recommendations and detailed reports would be submitted to the March 2022 meeting of the Committee.

Resolved

(1)      That the work programme update be noted.

(2)      That the update on topics previously suggested for review be noted.

(3)      That the update on items previously submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted.