Oxford to Cambridge Expressway

I have been consistent that the road that causes the most traffic issues for Oxfordshire is the A34 as it’s a mixture of local and national traffic. If the 2 parts could be separated to allow the ring road to function as a local road then there would be an improvement for the majority of Oxfordshire’s residents. The A34 impacts on all 5 Districts and all 6 constituencies so there are few residents not affected. We only have to remember the traffic chaos caused on Oxfordshire's roads due to an accident on the A34 on Thursday 6th September, action needs to be taken.

On page 17 of the strategic stage 3 study 

( https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/571353/oxford-to-cambridge-expressway-strategic-study-stage-3-report.pdf )  paragraphs 3.4.5 & 3.4.6, it is clear that this proposal will provide a local solution.

Whatever corridor and, ultimately, route chosen there will be local impact with local opposition however we have to consider the bigger picture to improve the A34, which is why I support the overall road proposal. 

I welcome the decision to exclude Otmoor from the scoping however it’s disappointing that there are still 2 corridor option around Oxford as that will create uncertainly for those communities involved. Highways England have determined that they need to do more work on the environmental impact which should be concluded by the autumn of 2019.

I am not suggesting a preferred corridor as I want to wait to see the evidence that Highways England will provide.

Once the final route is chosen by Highways England I will work with affected communities to reduce the impact on them.

Budget speech 2018 

Thank you chairman

I would like to start by thanking Lorna Baxter, chief finance officer, who has been invaluable in helping to prepare this budget. She has been ably assisted by Katy and the rest of her team.

I would also like to thank Cllr Bartholomew for his hard work. Cabinet member for finance is always a challenging portfolio.

I would like to thank my independent colleagues who have supported the budget process to enable a stable administration to deliver this budget.

I think the residents want that stability rather than listening to us arguing and scoring points at today’s meeting.

Last year I said the council had made some tough decisions. I don’t want to downplay the impact these decisions have had on council services. But without those difficult decisions we might be facing a very different budget.

By focusing resources where they have greatest impact, I can present an affordable budget to Council. Services for the most vulnerable adults and children across the county will continue.

Our finances are in good shape compared to the state of local government finances generally. Northamptonshire’s Chief Finance Officer was forced to issue a formal notice stop council spending. The public finance body, CIPFA, has warned that other councils may follow.

Our financial position is still extremely tight, and we must work hard to deliver the savings in the medium term financial plan. But I am confident we can and will make those savings.

As in previous years, I have been very open with the main opposition parties by providing information on the budget process. I want to see if we can deliver a united budget today.

I’m sure that we all remember two years ago when all Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Independents voted together on the budget.

We took difficult decision to reduce bus subsidies, and reorganise family support services and day services for adults. That meant that we could deliver a balanced four-year budget. Today we benefit from that difficult vote we all took in 2016. 

In proposing this budget, we have taken into account comments from Performance Scrutiny Committee and public responses to the consultation.

People are rightly concerned about the impact of savings on services, and on the voluntary sector that does so much in our communities.

I am concerned about this too, and believe this budget will make the best use of scare resources. I would particularly like to highlight the way more than 30 community groups have stepped in to provide services such as ‘stay and play’ for families with small children.

We have provided some financial help, but it is those community groups that have made it happen. That is what we mean by ‘thriving communities’.

From 2010, when we started a savings programme, to the end of this financial year we will have saved £360 million. Most of that money has been be reinvested in services, particularly for vulnerable children and adults.

This has been set against a back drop of the number of adult care packages we provide nearly doubling since 2010. The number of looked after children has increased by 60%, and demand for child protection services continues to grow.

With these sorts of budget pressures, we have to target our resources to provide vital services to those vulnerable adults and children who require them most.

It's a tribute to our staff that we have been able to make the savings while continuing to run services - day in, day out - that help our communities thrive.

Here are just some examples of the services we deliver:

• Assessing the care needs of over 10,000 vulnerable people and rising

• Providing long-term social care for 6,500 adults

• Organising a million hours a year of support a year, as well as assisting thousands of informal carers.

• Assessing almost 4,000 children, including over 1,500 child protection issues

• Supporting, currently, 700 looked after children, and 600 on a child protection plan

• Working to turn around 550 families with real problems so they can thrive

• Registering 20,000 births, deaths, and marriages

• Maintaining almost 3,000 miles of road

• Issuing or renewing over 40,000 concessionary bus passes in year

• Disposing of over 300,000 tonnes of waste

• Responding to over 5,000 fire and rescue incidents

That’s what business as usual looks like at Oxfordshire County Council. But demand for services continues to rise as our population grows and ages.

The Conservative government has already recognised the pressure by allowing us to raise a 3% precept to pay for social care as part of Council Tax.

This year the government enabled us to increase Council Tax by an additional 1% in further recognition of the pressure on all social services.

This will mean we will raise the council tax by the maximum allowed without triggering a referendum of 5.99%.

I do not believe in raising taxes unnecessarily. I understand the impact on our residents who may not have had an increase in their wages.

However, I am confident that people understand about the rising cost of social care.

In return, we will always ensure the money is spent as efficiently as possible.

Government funding for councils was announced last week after the budget papers were printed. We have been given an additional £1.4 million, which is welcome news for Oxfordshire.

Once again, it shows that the government is aware of the pressures on Adult Social care.

I feel we need to carefully consider how to best use the additional funding. I propose to increase our contingency fund so that we can respond to the demand for adult social care over the course of the year.

The Conservative government has recently provided an additional £916,000 this year for highways repairs. This will be used to do longer term patching work in the spring.

In the meantime, we will continue to carry out urgent repairs to our roads, which we all know have suffered over the winter.

For the first time, we have created a 10-year capital programme so we can take a longer view of the costs and benefits of road repairs.

I am hopeful that we will be able to spend our maintenance budget more effectively. By taking the long view, we can spend less on filling potholes and more on repairs that will last for years.

There will also be more money to spend on roads as a result of government funding. Although that money is for improving the road network, it means money that would have been spent on maintenance on those roads can be used elsewhere.

Last year I said I wanted Oxfordshire to have its own infrastructure fund. I’m pleased to say that yesterday cabinet agreed to sign the Oxfordshire Growth deal, worth £215 million.

This money is reflected in the new capital programme. I am becoming more optimistic that we will be able upgrade our road network in the coming years.

These are large amount of investment, that will fund the infrastructure needed to support the predicted growth in jobs in Oxfordshire and ensure our economy continues to thrive.

On the subject of roads, I note the amendment by the Liberal Democrat group regarding a cycling officer.

This was a position I was considering following the review of cycling provision for the National Infrastructure Commission.

We are still waiting for Andrew Gilligan’s report and I did not wish to pre-empt any of its recommendations.

In addition to the £155 million for planning and delivering improved infrastructure, we have been given £60 million to deliver more affordable homes across Oxfordshire.

The affordable homes won’t come overnight, but homelessness is becoming a national problem, and Oxfordshire has its share of the problem.

I propose that we continue to fund homelessness support for an additional year in 2019/20 by £500,000. This will be subject to the current consultation on supported housing, and discussions with our City and District colleagues.

In this budget, I want to make sure that communities have a say in how money is spent.

To achieve this, I am proposing a Councillor Priority fund. This will be £15,000 a year for each councillor this year and next.

If successful, I would like to see the fund grow to give greater decision making to local members as they understand their divisions the best.

I would encourage members to work with others in their locality. Perhaps they could find match funding to gain greater spending power.

I know that residents are concerned about highways so that may be where most of the funds will be spent.

But the money could also be used for day centres, community bus projects, children’s centres, village hall or homelessness projects.

It will be the members who make the decisions, in consultation with their communities.

I also propose to commit £25,000 on improving partnership working with parishes and town councils, which already do so much in their communities. Together, we can do more.

Finally, there will be £30,000 set aside for World War One commemorations to mark the centenary of the Armistice in 1918. I welcome views on how that money can be most appropriately spent.

This budget is not only compassionate as it is:

• increasing the funding on adult social care by £11.7m

• increasing the funding on Children’s social care by £8.5 m

It is also about localism as we are providing funds that will deliver local solutions by County Councillors who know their divisions best.

This is a budget that delivers for Oxfordshire people and Oxfordshire’s thriving communities.

COUNCILLOR IAN HUDSPETH

Leader of the Council

I was delighted to be able to help local resident Becky Aries when she phoned Radio Oxford. The snow the previous day meant that her road was unpassable and her husband's funeral was at 11:00, I was not sure if we could manage to clear the snow within 3 hours but said I would try.

I made some phone calls and we were able to get a snow plough/gritter to the road in time. I'm incredibly proud of the Highways team to help out on a difficult day for Becky. 

My speech regarding Fairer Funding for Oxfordshire's pupils on 30th March 2017 at Larkmead School, Abingdon

Good Evening

My name is Cllr Ian Hudspeth; I am Leader of Oxfordshire County Council and a Conservative.

Tonight I’m not here to justify the government’s position but to say I am trying to get the best deal for Oxfordshire’s pupils.

Why is it that a primary pupil in Oxfordshire on average receives £4300 compared to a pupil in London £6,200 or £5,250 in Nottingham

They all require a similar amount so that they can receive the best education possible.

I have written to all of Oxfordshire’s MPs explaining to them the impact it would have on schools within their constituencies both positive and negative.

A few weeks ago I had a private meeting with the Secretary of State and highlighted the issues this would create, particularly for the smaller rural schools within Oxfordshire.

At Oxfordshire County council we are proud that despite all the funding issues we have not closed a small rural primary school.

These are often the foundations of villages; one of the main reasons people chose to live in them , take away the school then other facilities may go too, making them become dormitory villages.

The current funding formula is unfair to Oxfordshire  as I’ve previously mentioned so when the Fairer funding consultation was proposed we were happy with the proposal.

No political party can claim the moral high ground as the current  formula was started by the Labour government and then continued under the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition, at least this Conservative government is trying to address the problem

However if the financial envelope remains the same then for some schools to benefit others must lose out; so the only truly fair way is to provide more funding.

This is one of those difficult decisions as there are 2 ways to do this by increasing taxes or reducing funding to other areas.

We know that people want more funding for the NHS and I’m sure that everybody in the room would like to see more funding for roads so this is the difficult choice that national government has to take.

Yet at the same time, we as a country are still borrowing £52billion this year simply to maintain our current levels of spending, this needs to be reduced.

I know how important a good education is for all children but they have to be able to get to the schools on the roads and will require health care facilities so I can understand why there is no more funding so if that is the case then to have a truly fair share for all children it means there will be some losers.

The situation with a reduction in the funding  to schools has a higher impact on those smaller rural schools who have smaller budgets and less capacity to find savings due to economics of scale and could make the difference between 1 or 2 members of staff and should smaller schools become unsustainable then it’s the local authority that has to pick up the bill for transporting children, to be fair it’s an unintended consequence rather than simply adding more financial pressure on the education authorities.

I have seen a presentation on the new funding formula and to be honest it requires a degree in higher maths to try and understand how all the different issues impact upon the final fund; deprivation, sparsity, low prior attainment, entitlement to free school meals and pupil mobility.

Once again Oxfordshire loses out because we are perceived to be an affluent county that does not require additional resources.

That is simply not true despite having low unemployment and a relativity high standard of living we need the funds to ensure all children benefit and Oxfordshire’s economy can continue to grow.

The net gain for all Oxfordshire schools is £4million, just 1.5% so far less than the cost pressure of around 8% on schools.

I’m sure tonight we’ll hear many stories about the impact on particular schools; please email me the details so that I can take it up with the local MPs and others at a higher level.

I apologise if you have come tonight to attack me as a Conservative for not providing the funding for schools because I think we are all agreeing to stand up for truly fair funding for all of Oxfordshire’s children.

Thank you

Thank you chairman

I would like to start by thanking Lorna Baxter, Chief finance officer, who has been invaluable in helping to prepare this budget. She has been ably assisted by Katy along with the rest of her team.

Also I would like to thank Cllr Stratford for his hard work, the cabinet member for finance always a challenging portfolio

I would like to thank my independent colleagues who have supported the budget process to enable a stable administration to deliver this budget. I think the residents want that stability rather than us all arguing and trying to point score at today's meeting

Each year I have said that I hoped that it would be easier than last year’s budget and for the first time I can say that it has been, although there are still difficult decisions to implement.

We still have to work within a challenging financial envelope to ensure that funds are targeted towards vulnerable adults and children across the county.

As in previous years I have been very open and transparent with the main opposition parties by providing information on the budget process prior to any announcements, sharing information with them.

I was content to see if we could deliver a united budget today.

I’m sure that we all remember that last year when all Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Independents voted together on the budget. Those difficult decisions we took on reducing bus subsidies, children’s centres and adult social care meant that we could deliver a balanced 4 year budget and today we benefit from that difficult vote we all took last year. 

In proposing this budget we have taken into account comments from Performance Scrutiny Committee and stakeholders responses to the consultation through the Council’s website.    

We know that it’s important to reduce the national deficit otherwise we are simply passing on debt to our grandchildren and great grandchildren. This has meant that local government has played its part by reducing expenditure.

Since 2010 we started a programme of reducing the budget by the end of the last financial year we have saved £300 million. We have plans to save another £77 million by 2020.

The financial settlement this year has meant we do not have to find more cuts but we still have £15 million to save in the transformation programme.

This has been set against a back drop of the number of adult care packages increasing by 94% since 2010; the number of looked after children increasing by 60%.

With these sorts of increases it means that with the reduced finances we have to target our resources to providing vital services to those vulnerable adults and children who require them. Already 50% of our net budget is spent on providing these vital services to 2% of the population.

It's a tribute to our staff that we have been able to make the savings and still have basically the same service delivered to our residents.

I do not believe in raising taxes unnecessarily as I understand the impact on our residents who may not have had an increase in their wages. However I am realistic and always want to ensure the money is spent as efficiently as possible.

We will raise the council tax by the maximum allowed without triggering a referendum of 4.99%

The Conservative government last year recognised the pressure on social care and allowed the 2% precept increase which we took and had to demonstrate that the extra funds were spent on social care particularly helping to implement the National Living wage brought in by the Conservative government.

We had built into our balanced 4 year medium term plan a 2% rise for the adult care precept. This year we have been given the option of taking  3% for each of the next 2 years with O% in the third year, we have decide to take that option; again we have to demonstrate where that extra funding is being spent.

We will use just over £1.0 million to Grow, develop and build resilience in the external care workforce. We all know the pressures in this area and its vital we train the workforce for the future.

We will transform delivery by using almost £1.5 million by optimising the use of available care capacity, improving purchasing, sourcing and working with people who use services along their carers to make services better.

For day time support an additional £650,000 will be added to the permanent £225,000 a year above the figures mentioned in the consultation. These additional funds will deliver a more phased transition to lower levels of funding.

Last week I visited the Hanborough Day centre and saw for myself the excellent work that is done and the enjoyment that users got from the service

We must not forget that the voluntary sector provides around ¾ of day time support without any funding from Oxfordshire County council. I thank all those involved for the excellent work they do in delivering support.

I will now praise the Districts and City councils for some excellent work in better than expected business rate collection and council tax surplus that has resulted in an additional £1.9m over and above the position reported to cabinet in January.

It would be very easy to use all of these funds in a giveaway budget ahead of elections in May but that would not be responsible given the savings that we still need to make therefore a total of £800k will be added to balances and contingency in 2017/18, but the on-going funding will be held until 2018/19 to ensure that the money is spent in a considered way.

On top of the £4m already proposed, an additional £600,000 will be invested in children’s social care an area that has been exempt over the years from the cuts but has experienced significant rising demand on services in common with children’s social care departments across England.

The transition fund for the children’s centres has worked well and I praise all those that are working to find solutions about services delivery and produced well thought through business plans.

This years funding allocation for the Local Growth Fund was not as good as we had hoped but if you consider the funding over the years Oxfordshire has done well from the Conservatives government’s investment programme.

We have a clear planned work programme and can see the benefits at:

Milton Interchange

Wolvercote Roundabout

Cutteslowe Roundabout

Chilton A34 Junction

These will provide a real boost to the transport network and promote growth in the county. Ensuring Oxfordshire continues to be a World class economy.

The growth of the economy is vital as we move towards an income system that relies on council tax and Business rates. It is important that we grow business rates to ensure that we have the income to provide the services for the vulnerable adult and children of Oxfordshire.

There is a lot of good and excellent work carried out by the staff at Oxfordshire County Council

Assess the care needs of over 10,000 vulnerable people and rising

Funds long-term social care for 6,500 adults

Purchases a million hours a year of support a year, as well as assisting thousands of carers.

Assess almost 4,000 children, including over 1,500 protection issues

Support, currently, 600 looked after children, and 600 subject to a child protection plan

Works to turn around 550 “thriving families”

Registers 20,000 births, deaths, and marriages

Maintains almost 3,000 miles of road

Issue or renew over 40,000 concessionary bus passes in year

Disposes of over 300,000 tonnes of waste

Responds to over 5,000 Fire and Rescue incidents

Of course we know that there is a better way which would include devolving powers down to local members

I’m pleased to announce that there will be a £250k one-off funding initially for a pilot Communities Fund for communities schemes or projects to supplement services following changes/reductions.

 The bids would be agreed through the locality members against locally determined priorities this demonstrates how funds can be devolved down so that key decisions could be made locally. For instance in my own division I would welcome a proposal for the ‘Our Bus’  a community bus project which has been set up to provide a service for residents run by volunteers.

In Oxford it would be the local decision of the locality members to allocate funds or not for Donnington Doorstep which I recently visited and saw first hand what they delivered in the locality.

This is a small example how we could deliver better services to Oxfordshire’s residents.

We also propose to reinstate £150,000 funding for the area stewards function, an area that all members value.

The Conservative government has provided an additional £1.3 million next year for pothole repairs. This will be added to the funds we already use to fix over 30,000 potholes in the last year; however we need more capital investment to replace roads rather than just repairing them. That could come from having  our own Oxfordshire infrastructure fund.

I’m pleased to announce that working with our partners Skanska an additional Dragon patcher will be purchased enabling more road defects to be repaired.

This is a budget that delivers

A County that works for everyone

COUNCILLOR IAN HUDSPETH

Leader of the Council

 Witney by-election

I have considered very carefully if I should stand as a prospective Conservative candidate for the Witney by-election.

After considerable soul searching and deliberation I have decided that now is not the time to put my name forward for the selection process. There are 2 main reasons for this decision:

I strongly believe in Local Government and in particular the services that are delivered within Oxfordshire. I’m sure that everybody is aware that 2 reports have shown we could save over £110 million over 5 years in Oxfordshire. I want to work with partners and stakeholders to realise those savings for the benefit of the residents, whether taxpayers or service users.

Since 2013 I have led the council with a minority Conservative group, I want to stand in the May 2017 elections to deliver a Conservative majority for the benefit of the residents whether taxpayers or service users.

I wish the successful Conservative candidate all the best and will be campaigning to ensure he or she is returned as the MP for Witney.

The Oxfordshire Comet

Our bookable transport service for those who can't access suitable public transport.

What is it?

It is a not for profit service, created to allow people without suitable access to public transport to make the journeys they want.

The Oxfordshire Comet can be booked for any type of trip. Whether it’s to meet friends in town, travel across the county, attend an appointment or pop to the shops. The service is available 10.15am - 2.30pm Monday to Friday (not Bank Holidays).

It’s easy to book, with a pre-paid account that can be set up on the phone.

Your vehicles, not ours

The Oxfordshire Comet uses vehicles that normally take children to school and adults to day care centres. We identified the times of the day when they weren’t being used and are making them available to you so that you can make the journeys you want. Because we already own these vehicles, we only have to cover running costs, meaning we can keep costs down for our passengers.

Who is it for?

Oxfordshire residents who don’t have access to suitable public transport, wheelchair users or those with mobility issues.

It can be booked by

• individuals
• groups
• schools
• organisations
• local communities.

At your service

We can do one-off journeys, regular and group trips. We can also offer regular routes for local communities (similar to a bus route) that do not have access to existing public transport.

The 16-seater vehicles are fully wheelchair and pushchair accessible, and our friendly drivers are only too happy to help. Just let us know if you need some extra assistance getting on or off the Comet, or with carrying shopping inside.

Options for travel

Individuals

• Exclusive use – you will have sole use of the vehicle and can bring up to 15 companions with you.
• Shared travel – if you don’t mind travelling with others and can be flexible about what day you travel, we will try to match your journey with other bookings in your area to reduce the price. You can also bring a companion (or your children) with you, free of charge.

Organisations / groups

We can do one-off or regular group trips, or set up a regular route for a community, similar to a bus service. We charge a different rate for groups, so please call to discuss the service you want and we will give you a quote.

Register before you book

Individuals

• call 01865 323201 to register and we’ll create an account for you
• there is a one off registration fee of £3 and we will send you a membership card
• buy credit for your account to make future journeys.
• pay over the phone (credit/debit cards) to top up your account:

Groups

• call 01865 323201 to register and we’ll create an account for you
• there is a one off registration fee of £3 and we will send you a membership card
• we will provide a quote for the trip(s)
• you can pay by invoice after you travel.

How to book?

Once you’ve registered, book a trip by calling 01865 323201 (9am – 4.30pm Monday to Thursday and 9am-4pm on Friday).

Just tell us where to pick you up and where you want to go. 

If you are using our shared travel service, make sure you ring at least 24 hours before you want to travel. Generally we would advise you to ring the week before for shared travel, as the earlier you ring for a shared service the more likely it is that we will be able to do your journey.

The service runs 10.15am - 2.30pm Monday to Friday (not Bank Holidays).

Costs

We’re charging passengers to cover running costs, not to make profit, meaning we can keep prices to a minimum. Costs will vary based on the length of the journey and which travel option you choose.

Indicative costs

• Exclusive use - 5 mile journey from £7
• Shared travel - 5 mile journey from £3.50
• Group bookings - minimum of £20 per hour to cover our basic costs.

When you book we will always let you know the maximum amount we will charge.

Last week the four districts and city councils announced plans to create four ‘quasi-unitary’ authorities for Oxfordshire, with bits of Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire bolted on. Oxford city would have its own council, with three other councils made up of pairs of districts covering the north, west and south of the county.

This announcement came as the ink was barely dry on a devolution bid to government on behalf of all the county’s councils, which could have coordinated £6.6bn investment in infrastructure and put the control of £1.3bn health and care budgets in the hands of the people of Oxfordshire.

Now, before government has even responded to the first proposal, a new is plan on the table. The press release announcing this new proposal was headlined ‘Council Leaders propose simplification of local government to support a devolution deal for Oxfordshire’.

This ‘simplification’ would involve: five NHS clinical commissioning groups; three police forces and three Police and Crime Commissioners; four local enterprise partnerships (LEPs); three highway authorities; three fire and rescue services, and three local resilience forums with responsibility for emergency planning.

Despite being described as a unitary bid to create single councils for each area, this proposal also retains two layers of local government in the form of four ‘quasi-unitary’ councils with a ‘combined authority’ quango covering three counties laid on top.

We are still unclear about which of the above bodies were involved in developing these proposals, or were even aware of them. The Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group’s logo was included on the website, and then removed within a day. The CCG in Gloucestershire is opposed to the plan.

OxLEP – a key partner in the original bid - was not aware of the new proposal until they saw the press release, and the LEP in Gloucestershire has also come out against the proposal.

To be clear, the county council was not involved in developing these quasi-unitary proposals, despite being responsible for 80% of local government spending in Oxfordshire. Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire councils were also not aware of proposals to carve off parts of their county.

However these proposals have revealed one point of strong agreement – the structure of local government in Oxfordshire needs to change to meet future financial challenges and rising demand for children and adult social care.

We are writing as the four political group leaders of Oxfordshire county council because we believe that for reasons of history, geography and practicality, we should be looking for a ‘one Oxfordshire’ approach.

Like the backers of the new proposal, we are all convinced that the unitary model – a single council serving an area - makes most sense. But they have to be real unitaries, not two layers of local government by another name.

The proposal to create a combined authority quango simply replaces the county council, covering a bigger area and with less democratic accountability. Under this proposal, responsibility for adult social care, along with council tax payers’ money to pay for it, would be handed to the NHS.

Joining up health and social care makes a lot of sense and that project is well underway in Oxfordshire. But handing over powers and budgets requires a proper debate to understand the implications.

Such an important decision cannot be done on the basis of a political deal and a press release – we need real openness and proper information about the implications of each option for Oxfordshire.

Today we are inviting all stakeholders to work together in a jointly agreed process to develop a business case for each of the options, including a single council for Oxfordshire and the four quasi-unitary option put forward by the districts. We will all need to agree the criteria, but efficiency, effectiveness and democratic accountability must be key.

Then, once they are in full command of the facts, the public can make up their own minds about the most efficient and effective way to deliver public services for Oxfordshire. Let the people decide.

Cllr Ian Hudpseth, Leader of the Council
Cllr Liz Brighouse, Leader of the opposition Labour group
Cllr Richard Webber, Leader of the Liberal Democrat group
Cllr David Williams, Leader of the Green group

Oxfordshire County Council leader on £4bn investment bid

Councillor Ian Hudspeth, the leader of Oxfordshire County Council has commented on the submission to Government of an expression of interest by public bodies in Oxfordshire that asks for greater local control over £4bn of funding for transport, skills training and health services.

Ends: 14 Sep 2015

Overview

Oxfordshire County Council would like your views on its service change proposals for subsidised bus services and Dial-a-Ride.

The council needs to save more than £6 million on supported transport services. We can save money by running existing services more efficiently, however that is not enough. Savings will also have to come from reducing the current £4 million a year the council pays in bus subsidies and to run the Dial-a-Ride service.

Currently Oxfordshire County Council subsidises over 100 bus services in Oxfordshire, which makes up around 9% of the bus network. This means that more than nine out of ten services run without any public subsidy.

The proposals in this consultation will affect some bus users and all Dial-a-Ride users. Read the consultation document and complete the online feedback form to register your views.

Find out if a bus service on a route you use may be affected using the online map here or download the full table of routes listed in Annex X (at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/stconsultation).

Why is the council making savings?

Ongoing cuts in central government funding mean Oxfordshire County Council has to make savings.

The council is currently in the process of making approximately £290 million of savings. Those savings began in 2010 and run until 2018. On top of those savings, the council currently believes it may need to save a further £60 million. Its calculations are based the Government’s broad savings targets across the public sector for the new parliament.

We have already made £204 million in savings since 2010 and are continuing to work hard to hold down costs and find new ways of working as the money we get from the government is reduced, whilst demand for our services increases.

The council will learn more specifics about how much local government in general and Oxfordshire County Council in particular will need to save following the Chancellor’s July budget, the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review and the local government settlement in late 2015.

Supported Transport Savings

As part of the council's budget setting process in February 2015, councillors reduced the overall supported transport budget by a fifth (£6.3 million).

As far as possible, we are trying to make savings in supported transport by running services more efficiently. We have identified that we can achieve nearly £3.7 million in savings by bringing together all the supported transport services we operate and fund. However, this is not enough.

The council needs to find a minimum of £2.6 million in additional savings and this means looking at supported transport services which the council is not required to provide by law. This will inevitably impact some people in the county.

Have your say on our proposals

We welcome your feedback. Tell us what you think of our proposal for the Dial-a-Ride service, and our proposals in relation to subsidised bus services including:

• Subsidised buses - Withdrawing bus subsidies altogether
• Subsidised buses - Reducing funding to subsidised bus services - and adopting the principle of prioritising , where possible, services most likely to be used by the elderly and disabled
• Dial-a-Ride - Ending direct funding of the Dial-a-Ride service - encouraging community transport groups across the county to deliver a replacement service.

For each please let us know whether you agree or not with our proposal, including what you think the likely impact will be and how we might be able to minimise this.

Oxfordshire County Council have asked that the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC), a not for profit, community development organisation are the independent facilitator during the consultation. If you need support in commenting on the county council’s proposals or are interested in attending one of our 5 public consultation events, please get in touch with the Oxfordshire Rural Community Council on 01865 883488 or email orcc@oxonrcc.org.uk.

Council to be asked to approve £64m of new savings from 2014 to 2018

Oxfordshire County Council is set to end 15 minute visits for personal care when it sets its budget for the period 2014-2018 later this month.

The council's cabinet has recommended ways that £4m of funding could be spent as part of its budget setting process for the period 2014 to 2018 - while still facing having to making around £64m of savings. A total of approximately £2.7m will be invested in priority areas while previously proposed savings are proposed to be reduced by around £1.3m.

One of the key proposals is that a total of £800,000 would be invested adult social care so that 15 minute care visits for personal care can be stopped.

During December, the council learned that grant levels from Central Government would mean it would have slightly more money than expected when it set out its budget proposals earlier that month. During late January and early February the council received business rates forecasts from Oxfordshire's district councils which are higher than had been factored in to its overall calculations. The overall impact is that there is £4m more to allocate in its budget calculations than was the case in early December.

The annual budget setting meeting of all 63 Oxfordshire County Councillors will make final decisions on the budget at a meeting on February 18.

As much of the money is being reinvested in to priorities as opposed to reducing spending, the council's overall new savings figure remains at £64m, with £31m of savings having already been planned. The council is on track to have made £170m of savings from 2010 to 2014.

How will the extra money be spent?

Additional investment:

On top of the £800,000 investment in ending 15 minute visits for personal care, the following additional investment is being made:

• An extra £350,000 will be available for the setting up of a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub in Oxfordshire.
• There will be £1m for extra for general highway maintenance to be spent across the county - with priorities for this spend to be determined during coming months.
• A total of £400,000 will be set aside as a contingency to deal with issues stemming from flooding and other winter weather issues - the exact nature of how this money will be spent will be determined once full assessments have been made when waters have subsided.
• A total of £315,000 will be invested in community budgets

Reduced savings:

• A total of £100,000 is to be reinstated in to budgets for respite breaks for carers of children with special educational needs and disability
• Services for adults with learning disabilities will benefit from £700,000 reducing savings required in this area
• The council will continue to subsidise the laundry service for people who suffer from incontinence in adult social care having previously proposed to cut all subsidy in this area. The saving will be reduced from £120,000 to £60,000.
• Original plans for phased reductions of grants over the course of the council's financial plans (2014-2018) amounting to £62,000 will now not go ahead. These savings would have affected the Pegasus Theatre in Oxford, the Oxfordshire Youth Arts Partnership and the Oxfordshire Visual Arts Development Agency had they gone ahead
• The original plan for a phased reduction of £25,000 in grant funding to Victoria County History will now not go ahead
• A total of £200,000 will be put back in to mainstream welfare rights and advocacy reducing the saving required to £100,000.

The announcement of the Enterprise Zone in the Science Vale area is a new development since the Cabinet meeting in July and means that the proposed allocation sites have to be re-visited. Prior to the announcement there was an imbalance in site allocation as the South/Vale area was projected to have an addition 22,000 homes that would require 21,000,000 tonnes for development (as per the Atkins report) whilst only 7,450,000 have been identified in the area, Sutton Courtenay 2,550,000 & Cholsey 4,900,000 as the 4,000,000 at Caversham will be primarily exported out of the county. The Enterprise Zone is expected to bring 8,000 jobs to the area, which has a low unemployment rate. To be sustainable, in line with current polices, then an addition 8,000 homes will be required otherwise new jobs will only bring more commuting and gridlock to the area. This will require approx 7,700,000 tonnes of additional minerals creating a shortfall of approx 21,000,000 tonnes that would have to be transported across the county.

Policy C7:  Transport and rights of way policy

Minerals and waste development will only be permitted where provision is made for convenient access to and along the primary road network in a way that maintains or improves:

• the safety of all road users including pedestrians;
• the efficiency and quality of the road network;
• residential and environmental amenity.

Proposals for mineral working should

•a)       wherever possible, transport minerals by rail, water, pipeline or conveyor, rather than by road

•b)      minimise the number of miles that have to be travelled to reach markets if this can be achieved using roads suitable for lorries   

In the recently endorsed Local Transport Plan 3 one of the requirements to be taken into consideration is:

5. Minimise the distance minerals need to be transported by road and encourage where possible the movement of aggregates by conveyor, rail and on the River Thames in order to reduce the adverse impacts of mineral transportation on local communities and on the environment.

To satisfy both of the above policies then more sites have to be identified in the South of the county, otherwise the County Council is contradicting itself, the whole Minerals & Waste policy would be found unsound and could be challenged.

The improvement to the A40 via Access to Oxford has been cancelled and the Highways Agency will object to a strategy that will add approx 700,000 HGV movements to the A40. This would have a negative impact on the local road network especially the A4095 & A44.

The Enterprise Zone will attract new government funding that will not be available to other areas, which can be added to the £6.5 million investment in the southern ring road by the County Council. This additional funding of infrastructure will mean that the Southern area will be best equipped to deal with the HGVs to satisfy policy 5 of LTP3 and policy C7 of this strategy.

Cllr Ian Hudspeth

5^th September 2011