Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from the Chairman, Deputy Claire James and Jeremy Simons.

There were no declarations of interest.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 5 September 2017.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2017 be agreed as a correct record subject to the following amendments:

6a)      Tudor Street/New Bridge Street

Officers further advised that it might be possible to ask TfL to reconsider the need for two bus stops.

6d)      Temple Area Traffic Review

In response to a suggestion by a Member that Middle Temple Lane, currently used as a rat-run, be included in the review, officers agreed that traffic entering and leaving the lane could be monitored.

Report of the Town Clerk.

RESOLVED – That the list of outstanding references be noted and updated as appropriate.

Two Way Cycling in Seething Lane/Muscovy Street

A member expressed concern that although officers had now written to residents again, the letter did not say why they were being written to which was because they had been omitted from the original consultation.

Bollards/Bakers Hall Court

Officers advised that the issue of vehicles mounting the pavement was due to the fact that the occupiers were using big vehicles and so they had been written too and asked to use smaller ones.

A member stated that that action needed to be taken quickly and that consideration should be given to the addition of skinny bollards.

To receive any update.

Officers reported that at its meeting on 12 October the Court of Common Council had given approval for officers to continue to work with TfL and representatives of the Temples to establish the viability of the new layout and to investigate possible funding options for the scheme.

In response to a question concerning the need for two bus stops which had been discussed at the last meeting, officers advised that dialogue with TfL had started and an update would be provided when available.

Members considered a Gateway 5 Issues Report of the Director of the Built Environment regarding 2-6 Cannon Street Public Realm Offsite Works.

RESOLVED - that Members Authorise an increase to the current project budget of £95,000, to be fully funded from the Section S106 agreement.

Appendices 4, 5 and 6 to this report are available electronically, hard copies will also be available in the members room and at the meeting.

Members received a Gateway 3 report concerning the Greening Cheapside project, previously identified as a high priority in the Cheapside and Guildhall Area Enhancement Strategy (adopted by the City in 2015) with the objective of enhancing greening and re-landscaping in the area.

RESOLVED – To approve

1)            Progression of option 2 and 3 for St. Paul’s tube station area to Gateway 4 and 5 (detailed design and implementation) under the ‘regular’ Gateway process.

2)            Progression of option 1 for St. Peter’s Westcheap churchyard to Gateway 4 and 5 (detailed design and implementation) under the ‘regular’ Gateway process

3)            The funding to develop the preferred options for each site to Gateway 4 and 5, at a total cost of £109,000 to be fully funded by the Cheapside Business Allowance (£100,000), underspend from the project (£7,500) and s106 monies from 100 Cheapside (£1,500).

Appendices 2, 4, 5 and 6 to this report are available electronically, hard copies will also be available in the members room and at the meeting.

Members received a Gateway 5 report concerning the Shoe Lane Quarter Public Realm Enhancements.

RESOLVED - To

1)            Approve the implementation of the public realm, highway and security works with an estimated total cost of £7.6 million as shown in Table 1;

2)            Delegate authority to the Director of the Built Environment, in consultation with the Chamberlain to make any adjustments between elements of the £7.6 million budget; and

3)            Approve the traffic management proposals on Shoe Lane (north) and proceed to advertising of the traffic orders

Members received a Gateway 6 report concerning the Lime Street and Cullum Street area project.

RESOLVED – To

1)            Approve the revised design for Lime Street as shown in Appendix 1;

2)            Approve authority to start work following completion of the construction information at a total project cost of £526,331 as set out in appendix 2.

3)            Approve the revised total project sum of £824,929 (inclusive of Lime Street area project, Lime Street Traffic Management Experiment and Cullum Street);

4)            Approve the additional funding required of £248,323 and that it be met from the underspend of the completed Cullum Street (£63,926) and Lime Street Traffic Experiment (£3,532) projects and £180,865 from the Section 106 contribution connected to 20 Fenchurch Street (specific in purpose and geography).

Members received a consolidated outcome report for a number of projects which had delivered enhancements across the City public realm.

In response to a question concerning assurance that the lessons learnt were implemented and not lost, officers advised that this was done by way of review meetings.

A member also raised the issue of bollards and tree planting and asked that developers be encouraged to take a softer approach to the use of these so that did not appear to designate separate areas.

RESOLVED – that the outcome information be received and recommendations on individual reports approved

Appendices1, 2, 3 and 4 to this report are available electronically, hard copies will also be available in the members room and at the meeting.

Members received a report updating on the outcomes of the work being undertaken with TfL in relation to the North-South Cycle Superhighway Phase 2.

Members were advised of a number of significant improvements that officers had secured, however TfL had not agreed to a timed suspension of the proposed left turn ban into West Smithfield.

Officers recommended supporting TfL’s proposals even though these would cause some inconvenience for those wishing to access the market. This was due in part to the evidence provided by TfL of the current relatively low demand for the left turn into West Smithfield, in part by the traffic delay that introducing a timed suspension would cause but primarily having regard to the increased road danger it was believed would result from a timed suspension of the ban.

A member expressed concern that the risk of contraventions of the left turn ban throughout the day would introduce a risk for cyclists, and the fact that there would be no further attempts at mitigating this.

REOLVED – To

1)            Accept and support TfL’s proposal and approve its concept design as shown in Appendix 1,

2)            Agree that officers continue to work with TfL to facilitate the delivery of the proposals using the powers and authority available to the City Corporation

Following approval of the recommendations Marianne Fredericks advised that she wished to be recorded as having abstained from the vote.

The Appendix to this report is Non Public and attached at Item 10.

Members received an update on progress relating to the Aldgate highway changes and public realm enhancement.

RESOLVED – To note

1)        That a further £2.8M of the original £10M On Street Parking Reserve (OSPR) fund allocation can be returned leaving £3.7M of OSPR underwriting the project; and

2)        The potential funding gap that may need to be met from the existing underwriting allocation, from the OSPR fund.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.

MOTION – That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business 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 as follows:-

RESOLVED – That under Section 100A(4) 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 1 of Schedule 12A of the local government Act.

To agree the non-public Minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2017

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2017 be agreed as a correct record.

Members received a Gateway 1&2 project proposal on a programme of protective security measures.

RESOLVED  - That the report be noted.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.