Limited support for Cherwell
We do not currently provide detailed weekly summaries for Cherwell Council. Running the service is expensive, and we need to cover our costs.
You can still subscribe!
If you're a professional subscriber and need support for this council, get in touch with us at community@opencouncil.network and we can enable it for you.
If you're a resident, subscribe below and we'll start sending you updates when they're available. We're enabling councils rapidly across the UK in order of demand, so the more people who subscribe to your council, the sooner we'll be able to support it.
If you represent this council and would like to have it supported, please contact us at community@opencouncil.network.
Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Tuesday 9 September 2025 6.30 pm
September 9, 2025 View on council websiteSummary
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss the council's performance, its work programme, and an update on the Graven Hill Village Development Company. The meeting was also scheduled to include a review of the minutes from the previous meeting.
Performance Monitoring Report
The committee was scheduled to review the council's performance against its priorities for the first quarter of 2025-26. The report, prepared by Shona Ware, Assistant Director – Customer Focus, was intended to present how the council performed against its Outcomes Framework.
The report pack included a summary of performance, noting that of 23 Annual Delivery Plan actions, 20 were achieved or within the agreed tolerance. Three were slightly behind target:
- Strengthening community cohesion
- Delivering Planning Service Improvement
- Creating vibrant economic centres and thriving rural villages
Of the nine targeted corporate key performance indicators, five achieved their Q1 target or reported within the agreed tolerance, and four reported slightly behind target:
- Number of Homeless Households living in nightly charge (Hotel) Temporary accommodation (TA)
- Percentage of Homelessness cases successfully prevented rather than relief/main duty being applied
- Percentage of Major Applications overturned at appeal
- Percentage of Climate Actions Plan delivering to target
The report pack included commentary on these exceptions. For example, regarding the Climate Action Plan, it was noted that:
In Q1, of the 120 Climate Actions, 102 were Ongoing, 11 On-hold, and 7 Completed. RAG ratings showed 71 actions in Green, 39 in Amber, and 10 in Red.
The report pack also included details of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Targets for 2025-26, explaining how these targets are set, and whether they are nationally mandated or internally set.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was to consider the contents of the report and agree comments to the Executive for consideration.
Work Programme Update
The committee was scheduled to receive an update from the Principal Officer – Scrutiny and Democratic Lead on the work programme. The committee was to consider and comment on the work programme.
The Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2025-26 included items allocated to specific meeting dates, such as the Quarter Two Performance Monitoring Report, the Safeguarding Annual Return, and Service Levels. It also included items to be allocated, such as Graven Hill, and a follow-up on recommendations relating to the Cherwell Safer Communities Partnership Plan.
Graven Hill Village Development Company Update
The committee was scheduled to receive an exempt report of the Corporate Director – Resources and Transformation, regarding an update on the Graven Hill Village Development Company1.
-
Graven Hill is a large self-build development site in Bicester. ↩
Attendees
Topics
No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.