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 Climate Action and the Environment, Planning and Development Management.
- Delivery against Climate Action Plan and towards carbon targets
- Climate Action Plan
- Climate Action Fund
- Nature Recovery
- Major Applications, Appeals and Enforcement
- Building Control and Registration DM
- Footpaths (Connectivity)
- Planning Business Support
- Urban Design, Conservation, Listed Buildings, Trees, Landscape and Ecology
Councillor Mark Coleman – Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Waste
- Waste and Recycling, Waste Depot and Fleet Management
- Litter and Street Cleaning
- Food and Workplace Safety, Environmental Protection
- Grounds and Park Maintenance
- Engineering Services (Sewerage, Flooding and Drainage)
- Carparks, Cemeteries and Moorings
Councillor Andrew Crawford – Cabinet Member for Finance and Property
- Strategic Finance and Financial Management
- S106 and CIL
- Revenues and Benefits
- Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud
- Exchequer Services and Procurement
- Strategic Property, Asset Management Strategy, Development Initiatives and Disposals Policy
- Property Database and Estates Management
Councillor Andy Foulsham – Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Policy and Programmes
- Customer Services and Complaints
- HR Advisory and Admin, Payroll, Organisational Culture
- Health and Safety, Equalities and Inclusivity
- IT Strategy, Programmes, Operations and Development
- Corporate Programmes, Project Management, Assurance and Transformation
- Corporate Policy (including Corporate Plan and Joint Local Plan)
- Third Party Funding for Vale Priorities and Projects
Councillor Debra Dewhurst – Cabinet Member for Leisure Centres and Community Buildings
- Facilities and Facilities Helpdesk
- Leisure Centres, Building Decarbonisation Programme
- Beacon Building Management
- Community Centre Building Management, Public Toilets
Councillor Helen Pighills – Cabinet Member for Community Health and Wellbeing
- Health Engagement, Community Hub and Recovery, Community Grants and Enablement
- Arts Strategy and Arts Overview, Community Centre and Beacon Events Programme
- Active Communities, Community Safety and CCTV
- Safeguarding and Licensing
- Housing Needs, Disability Facilities Grants, Private Sector Housing
Councillor Sue Caul – Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Infrastructure, Development and Governance
- Affordable Housing, Housing Strategy and Delivery, Community Led Housing
- Mobile Home Parks
- Infrastructure Delivery, S106 and CIL Collection and Allocation
- Didcot Garden Town and Dalton Barracks Garden Village
- Information Governance, Data Protection, GDPR, EIR and FOI
- Legal and Land Charges, Democratic and Elections
Councillor Lucy Edwards – Cabinet Member for Communications
- Communications and Consultation
- Community Engagement
Councillor Neil Fawcett – Cabinet Member for Economic Development
- Economic Development
- Support for Local Businesses and Market Towns
Find out who has to make decisions on what in our Constitution.
Contact us - Democratic services
01235 422520
(Text phone users add 18001 before dialing)
Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House
Abbey Close
Abingdon
OX14 3JE
