Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Henry Colthurst, Stuart Fraser, Shravan Joshi, Natasha Maria Cabrera Lloyd-Owen, Andrew Mayer and Deputy Henry Pollard.

James de Sausmarez declared a personal, non-pecuniary, interest in agenda Item 9 by virtue of his membership of the St Paul’s Cathedral Council and its Finance, Audit and Risk Committee and the fact that the Diocese of London had submitted a written objection.

Alderman Prem Goyal declared a personal interest in agenda Items 7 and 8 by virtue of holding a tenancy in Farringdon Within.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 18 March 2019.

The Committee considered the public minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2019.

A Member reported that he had requested that Officers separate out the Committee’s desire to see alternative guidelines on daylight/sunlight developed from the need for further Member training on this issue. Officers had agreed to this request and had undertaken to bring a full report on the matter to the Committee for their May meeting. The Member requested that the minutes of the last meeting be amended to reflect this point.

The Town Clerk undertook to make this amendment.

The Town Clerk drew Members attention to an addendum that had been tabled regarding the resolution for the item concerning Seal House. The Town Clerk reported that, whilst the version of the minutes published on the public website accurately reflected the Committee’s decision in full, the version circulated to the Committee for today’s meeting did not. The Town Clerk clarified that a final recommendation containing a proviso had been added at the last meeting after an addendum was tabled and circulated. The full recommendation should therefore read as follows: 

RESOLVED – That:

(a) The application be referred to the Mayor of London to decide whether to allow the Corporation to grant planning permission as recommended, or to direct refusal, or to determine the application himself (Article 5(1)(a) of the Town & Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008);

(b) Planning permission be GRANTED for the above proposal in accordance with the details set out in the attached schedule, the planning obligations and other agreements being entered into in respect of those matters set out in the report, the decision notice not to be issued until such obligations have been executed;

(c) That your officers be instructed to negotiate and execute obligations in respect of those matters set out

To receive the draft minutes of the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee meeting held on 26 February 2019.

The Committee received the draft minutes of the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee meeting held on 26 February 2019.

RECEIVED.

To receive the draft minutes of the Local Plans Sub Committee meeting held on 6 March 2019.

The Committee received the draft minutes of the Local Plans Sub Committee meeting held on 6 March 2019.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk detailing outstanding actions from their last meeting.

Updates were provided as follows:

Ludgate Circus

The Transportation and Public Realm Director reported that he had recently met with the Director of ‘Vision Zero’ at Transport for London (TfL) who had indicated that they would be attending the May 2019 meeting of the Planning and Transportation Committee to present solutions to the problems faced at this dangerous junction.

The Chairman stated that he was very encouraged by this and would eagerly await the forthcoming presentation from TfL.

Daylight/Sunlight Training

The Chairman reported that Officers were working to set some suitable dates for Member training on this subject for May 2019.

Daylight/Sunlight – Alternative Guidelines

The Chairman emphasised that this matter had now been separated out from the Daylight/Sunlight Training at the request of Members and would be dealt with separately at Committee level. Members were informed that a report on the matter was now expected to be brought to the June 2019 meeting of the Planning and Transportation Committee.

Illegal Street Traders on the City’s Bridges

The Chairman reported that the Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee had met with the Mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH) early last week and had used the meeting as an opportunity to raise this matter and request that the LBTH expedite the signing of the Section 101 agreement. This had then been followed up by a letter signed by both the Chairman of the Planning and Transportation Committee and the Chairman of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee as instructed by Members. The letter had been sent in the latter part of last week and, to date, a response was still awaited. The Chairman undertook to continue to pursue this matter

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director detailing development and advertisement applications determined by the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director or those so authorised under their delegate powers since the report to the last meeting.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director detailing applications received by the Department of the Built Environment since the report to the last meeting.

Members noted that the report now featured applicant details for each application as requested at the last meeting.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director seeking approval for the demolition of an existing building and structures and construction of a building to a height of 305.3m AOD for a mixed-use visitor attraction, including viewing areas [2,597sq.m GEA], an education/community facility [567sq.m GEA] (Sui Generis) and restaurant/bar use (Class A3/A4) [1,535sq.m GEA]; together with a retail unit at ground floor (Class A1); a new two-storey pavilion building [1,093sq.m GEA] (Sui Generis) comprising the principal visitor attraction entrance with retail at ground floor level (Class A1/A3) [11sq.m GEA] and a public roof garden; provision of ancillary cycle parking, servicing and plant and alterations to the public realm. [Total Scheme Area: 17,441sq.m GEA] on land adjacent to 20 Bury Street, London, EC3A 5AX.

The Chairman preceded the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director’s introduction of the report by underlining that this was an important decision for the Committee to make. He stressed that Members should come to a decision based on the information and representations received before them and that, once that decision was made, it was possible that the Mayor of London would direct in respect of the application or that the Secretary of State would call-in the application for his determination. The Chairman stated that neither of these possibilities fettered the Committee’s ability to make a recommendation as Local Planning Authority.

The Chief Planning Officer and Development Director began by drawing Members attention to a correction within the report highlighting that paragraph 44, sub paragraph 6, should read: “HRP consider that the claimed public benefit of the development, which would neither offer enhancement of the WHS, nor fulfil a planning policy objective, would not outweigh the potential harm to the WHS”.

The Chief Planning Officer and Development Director went on to report that

There were no questions.

There were no additional, urgent, items of business for consideration.

MOTION – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED– That, under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

            Item No.                                                          Paragraph(s)

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There were no questions raised in the non-public session.

There were no additional, urgent items of business for consideration in the non-public session.