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Cabinet

This committee is chaired by the leader of the council who selects eight cabinet members from their ruling group. Each Cabinet member has specific areas of primary responsibility, as detailed below.

The Cabinet reviews reports prepared by council staff working with the cabinet member who represents them. The report recommends a decision on an important subject, and the Cabinet debates and votes on it in a public meeting.

Cabinet members can make decisions on less important subjects themselves – we call this an Individual Cabinet Member Decision.

We publish all decisions made by the Cabinet, and all Individual Cabinet Member Decisions on our democratic pages.

See our calendar for the dates of all of our Cabinet meetings. Five working days before a meeting, we will publish the reports the Cabinet is reviewing. You can find these reports on the calendar.

Cabinet Members and the areas they represent

Councillor Bethia Thomas – Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Local Government Reorganisation and Strategic Partnerships

  • Strategic Partnerships: 5 Councils Partnership, Joint Tactical Board and Oxfordshire Leaders Joint Committee

Councillor Mark Coleman – Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance

  • Strategic Finance: Financial Management; S106/CIL.
  • Revenues and Benefits
  • Internal Audit and Risk Management: Corporate Fraud; Insurance.
  • Exchequer Services and Procurement

Councillor Andy Crawford – Cabinet Member for Property and Housing

  • Property Assets: Property Operations (facilities); Leisure Centres, Splashpads and Abbey Meadows Pool; Toilets; Community Centres; Health and Safety and Capital Projects. Building Decarbonisation Programme
  • Housing Delivery: Housing Strategy and Delivery; Affordable Housing and Community Led Housing, Mobile Home Parks.
  • Housing Needs: Disabled Facility Grants; Private Sector Housing.
  • Strategic Property: Asset Management Strategy; Development Initiatives; Disposals Policy; Estates Management.

Councillor Neil Fawcett Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Legal and Democratic

  • People and Culture: HR; Payroll; Workforce and Organisational Development; Equalities and Wellbeing.
  • Communications and Engagement: Marketing and Corporate Consultations
  • Customer Services and Complaints
  • Legal Operations:  Legal advice, Land Charges
  • Legal Governance: Information Governance, GDPR, EIR and FOI
  • Democratic Services:  Committee Support, Elections
  • Economic Development: Business Engagement; Market Towns; Enterprise Zones, Science Vale brand

    Councillor Andy Foulsham – Cabinet Member for Policy, Programmes and IT

    • Corporate Programmes: Strategic Programmes; Corporate Project Management; Council Plan Performance Management; Emergency Response and Business Continuity
    • Policy: Local Plan; S106/CIL Policy; Neighbourhood Planning; Community Led Planning; Transport Infrastructure; Climate and Biodiversity
    • IT: Operations, Development, Strategy and Programmes; Corporate GIS

    Councillor Hayleigh Gascoigne – Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, Climate Action and Nature Recovery

    • Technical Services: Parks & Grounds Maintenance; Engineering Services (Sewerage, Flooding and Drainage); Cemeteries, Car Parks and Moorings
    • Environmental Services: Environmental Protection; Waste, Litter and Street Cleaning; Food and Workplace Safety
    • Climate Action: Co-ordinating action to meet the councils carbon targets; Delivering the Climate Action Fund; Helping communities adapt to climate change
    • Nature Recovery

    Councillor Helen Pighills – Cabinet Member for Community Health and Wellbeing

    • Community Wellbeing: Health Engagement; Community Hub; Migration, Community Grants; Community Enablement; Garden Communities and Active Communities
    • Community Arts: Arts Strategy and Development; Community Art and Beacon Community Arts Centre
    • Community Safety: Safeguarding; CCTV and Licensing

    Councillor Emily Smith – Cabinet Member for Planning Development (Major/Minor Applications, Building Control and Enforcement)

    • Major Applications, Appeals and Enforcement
    • Development: Minor/Other Applications; Building Control
    • Development (Business): DM Registration, Footpaths; Planning Business Support; Urban Design; Trees, Landscape and Ecology; Conservation and Listed Buildings

    Contact us - Democratic services

    democratic.services@southandvale.gov.uk

    Vale of White Horse District Council
    Abbey House
    Abbey Close
    Abingdon
    OX14 3JE