Leader’s Report to Council

As reported by Cllr Bethia Thomas to the Vale of White Horse District Council meeting on Wednesday 23 October 2024.

The last time we assembled here members spoke positively about endorsing the Joint Local Plan and we voted unanimously to take it forward to its next stage, giving everyone the opportunity to make final comments before we submit it in December.

The Joint Local Plan is groundbreaking, with policies which encompass everything we hold dear, with exceptional targets on affordable housing, building standards, connectivity, environmental and climate considerations, all building healthy communities for residents across the district.

It is becoming increasingly clear that we are leading the way in planning policy not just in the county, but nationally, with the councils being nominated as finalists in the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Planning Excellence Awards for the council’s digital innovation while developing the plan and engaging with our communities. This is testament to the work this council has put into the plan over the last four years – it has been our goal to create the best local plan for our residents that we could, and I think we have done that – and we have proof of that too, with the overwhelming support we received in the consultation earlier in the year. Knowing that we had an endorsement like this, we felt confident going forward with the next stages of the plan and look ahead to its progress in the coming weeks and months.

We make progress elsewhere too; our council continues to achieve its targets across the board, and I was happy to see this documented in the Corporate Plan Annual Performance Report; the vast majority of targets we had set are now complete.

We are readying ourselves to build on this, with an improved reporting strategy and a more accessible format in our new Council Plan: “At the heart of the Vale”, which sets the scene for our council’s work over the next four years.

I am also happy that we have introduced a regular report on the Future Oxfordshire Partnership to full council; we predict changes in the partnership, and to ensure the greatest level of transparency over coming months, I wanted to ensure that every member of our council was informed of its activity.

I will continue to argue that we need a more streamlined version of the partnership but suggest that the best way of achieving gains for the district outside our own sphere of influence is to continue to work closely with our partners within the county, but also looking further afield to partners outside the county to our nearest neighbours.

With the government expressing their intention to devolve greater powers to local authorities, our partnerships are important. Alongside other district council leaders within the county, I co-signed a letter sent by Cllr Liz Leffman, Leader of Oxfordshire County Council, replying to the Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Raynor MP, expressing its interest in further exploring what devolution may mean to the county and its local partners.

We still wait to see what the details of the Government’s plans are when they release further detail of their offer, but I am confident that many of the councils within the county are of the same mind and will work together for the best results for their residents.

Meaningful partnerships are important, but sadly we know that we are not able to have the same influence on some projects right here on our doorstep; we have very little control over the outcome of Botley West Solar Farm, and of course SESRO, which we are discussing here tonight. Our residents are also being inconvenienced daily by Network Rail’s continued closure of the Botley Road. As national infrastructure projects they are out of our direct control, being determined by bodies over our head, but I am making sure that each of these projects does not go unchallenged. I am particularly grateful to Cllrs Clegg and James here tonight who are again highlighting the safety concerns we have about the proposed reservoir in the district.

All of this is done of course in a climate of uncertainty. For many years we have been working from hand to mouth, the previous government leaving us on tenterhooks each time we try and set our budget, and the current government promising not much more at this stage.

On Monday I received a letter from Jim McMahon MP, the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, that indicated that there may be some positive news, but perhaps not just yet. Without proper local government funding, that allows us to commit to longer term spending plans and forecasts, it is very difficult to navigate our financial outlook.

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Oxfordshire Local Nature Partnership Forum, where we discussed the many plans that are being made across the county. This is led in a large part, by our officers, who are at the forefront of nature recovery in Oxfordshire and was a timely reminder of our commitment to enhancing the ecology of our district and restoring our natural environment.

This is one of our central commitments to our residents, and for our future. As we start to set the budget for the next financial year, where we may need to make difficult decisions, our priorities will stay fixed, guided by the exemplary policies set by this council.