Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Alex Bain-Stewart, Dennis Cotgrove, Revd Dr Martin Dudley, Deputy Bill Fraser and Christopher Hayward.

Alderman Timothy Hailes declared a personal interest in agenda item 12 – London Wall Car Park – by virtue of being a Managing Director of JP Morgan Chase.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 2 February 2016.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2016 be approved subject to the addition of Deputy Henry Pollard’s apologies being recorded.

Matters Arising

Contact Centre – The Town Clerk reported that staff in the Contact Centre had now been made aware who Members were and the manager had spoken to Revd Dr Martin Dudley to get the full details of his complaint. The member of staff concerned was new and although action was eventually taken this had been slower than usual.

The Deputy Chairman also raised a concern regarding the length of time it had recently taken for an important email sent to the Contact Centre for her attention to be forwarded onto her and the Town Clerk agreed to look into it.

Cycle Superhighway – The Director of the Built Environment reported that the Streets and Walkways Sub-Committee had recently approved the making of an experimental traffic order in relation to the proposed road closures.

Report of the City Planning Officer relative to development and advertisement applications dealt with under delegated authority.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director in respect of development and advertisement applications dealt with under delegated authority.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director which provided details of valid planning applications received by the department since the last meeting.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted

The Committee received a report of the Chief Planning Officer in relation to the redevelopment of Sugar Quay and the issue of public access under Section 106 provision.

The Chief Planning officer reported that 24 hour access to the jetty had finally been secured subject to an initial period of review should any antisocial behaviour of safety issues become apparent. However the jetty licence from the PLA did not permit any vessel moorings because of the type of structure and its location.

In response to questions the Chief Planning officer advised that maintenance of the jetty was the responsibility of the licence holder, and the licence itself set out the maintenance requirements. The question of whether or not the jetty was suitable for moorings had been raised directly with PLA but the license did not permit this.

RESOLVED - That

a)            a deed of variation of the Section 106 agreement dated 16th September 2013 be entered into to provide 24 hour public access to the Sugar Quay jetty, the decision notice not to be issued until such obligations have been executed; and

b)            Officers be instructed to negotiate and execute the deed of variation to the Section 106 agreement.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Planning Officer recommending approval of the Visitor Management Plan (VMP) setting out details of the access, ticketing and security arrangements applicable to the Sky Garden.

The Chief Planning Officer reported that following extensive discussions, and as a result of Members view that the initial arrangements were too restrictive, there had been quite a lot of changes to the VMP and adjustments to operational arrangements.

In response to questions the Chief Planning Officer advised that provision to enable walk-ins to cover no-shows would be a reasonable request to include within the review procedure, as would a procedure enabling City of London planning officers to conduct random visits although these could not be anonymous.

RESOLVED - That the Visitor Management Plan be approved

Please note that only Appendices b) and c) are attached to this agenda.

Appendices  a1-3, d) and e) are available electronically as a supplementary pack, and some hard copies will be available in the members room and at the meeting.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Planning Officer detailing proposed amendments to the Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD) for the Fleet Street, Whitefriars and Chancery Lane conservation areas following the public consultation from October 2015 until January 2016. 

RESOLVED – That

a)            the amendments to the Fleet Street, Whitefriars and Chancery Lane Supplementary Planning Documents listed in Appendix C be agreed; and

b)            Members adopt the amended Fleet Street Conservation Area, Whitefriars Conservation Area and Chancery Lane Conservation Area SPDs.

The Committee received a report detailing the progress made in reducing road traffic casualties on City Streets and setting out proposals for achieving further reductions in the future.

Members noted the proposal reflected an important emphasis on 6 key actions areas of enforcement, engineering, business engagement and behavioural change, reviewing and learning from the successes of others, reviewing staff location and strengthened working with TfL and the GLA.

Several Members commented that the risks taken by cyclists and pedestrians were increasing as well as those of motorists, and there was a need to encourage behavioural change and raise awareness of the dangers to all road users.

In response to a question concerning why a 10mph speed limit could not be imposed, the Director of the Built Environment advised that TfL were unlikely to agree to such a proposal.

Members also commented that the published target for reducing casualties should be zero.

RESOLVED  that the Road Danger Reduction Programme be agreed.

The Committee received a report setting out the progress made during Q3 (October December) against the 2015/18 Business Plan showing what had been achieved together with the progress made against departmental objectives and key performance indicators.

Members asked that an alternative indicator to smiley faces be used in future when reporting road safety issues as these could be perceived to be insensitive.

In response to a question concerning DM2 the Chief Planning Officer agreed to report back.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

Queen Hithe – In response to a question concerning a 12-14 minutes diversion which used to be a 1 minutes diversion, the Director of the Built environment advised that it would be possible to send an officer to a ward meeting which TfL should also be invited to.

Planning Presentation – In response to a question concerning why the planning presentation had not been emailed to Members in advance of the meeting, the Town Clerk agreed that this would be looked in to and circulated to Members.

The Committee received a tabled paper updating on the completion of lift repairs at London Wall West, Milennium Bridge Inclinator and Speed House (Silk Street).

Members were advised that completion of the repairs at London Wall West and Speed House had been delayed due to the impact of third parties beyond the control of the City Surveyor and appropriate steps had been identified to prevent any repeat delays.

Members expressed concern at the time taken to rectify the fault with the Milennium Bridge Inclinator as this was the only lift in the area with disabled access. Also users would not be aware the lift was out of service until they actually tried to use it.

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 Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2016.

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2016 be approved subject to the addition of Deputy Henry Pollard’s apologies being recorded.

Report of the City Surveyor.

This report was deferred.

Noted.