Agenda and minutes

Doug Barrow, Charles Bowman, Alex Deane, George Gillon, Stephen Haines, Edward Lord, Andrew Parmley, Dhruv Patel and Giles Shilson.

The Chairman, Jeremy Mayhew and Sir Michael Snyder declared an interest in Item No. 7 as Trustees of the Crossrail Arts Foundation. Jeremy Mayhew also declared an interest in Item No. 6 having been the recipient of lunch with the Director of Museum of London.

To consider minutes as follows:-

The public minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2016 were approved, subject to the inclusion of John Tomlinson in the list of Members present.

Matters Arising - Central Criminal Court and Outside Bodies Sub-Committees

The Chairman referred to the Central Criminal Court and the Outside Bodies Sub-Committees and advised that in the absence of specified arrangements for the chairmanship of sub-committees the default position was that they would be chaired by the Chairman of the Grand Committee. He advised that given the longevity of the two sub-committees, he was keen for them to be chaired by one of his Deputies. He had asked  Catherine McGuiness to chair the Central Criminal Court Sub-Committee and Simon Duckworth  to chair the Outside Bodies Sub-Committee.

Members were of the view that currently there was no consistency in the approach taken on the chairmanship of sub-committee. Whilst the Committee had no objection to the Chairman’s suggestions, the Town Clerk was asked to look at the procedures applied to the appointment of the Chairman of a Sub-Committee to ensure that it was dealt with in a consistent manner by all committees.

RESOLVED – That:-

1.    it be noted that Catherine McGuinness had been asked to chair the Central Criminal Court Sub-Committee and Simon Duckworth the Outside Bodies Sub-Committee; and

2.    The Town Clerk be requested to look at the procedures applied to the appointment of the Chairman of a Sub-Committee to ensure that it was dealt with in a consistent manner by all committees.

The draft public minutes of the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee meeting held on 7 July 2016 were noted.

The draft public minutes of the Public Relations and Economic Development Sub-Committee meeting held on 7 July 2016 were noted.

The draft public minutes of the Projects Sub-Committee meeting held on 20 July 2016 were noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning the Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Committee.

Members noted that the purpose of the Committee was to scrutinise the work of the City’s Safer City Partnership.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning the accommodation and ways of working project.

Members were advised that the Project Sub-Committee had approved the accommodation and ways of working project proceeding to the next gateway of the project approvals procedure. However, whilst it was supportive, it was keen for officers to ensure that real change would be implemented with early wins being established. The Sub-Committee had therefore asked to be updated on the project in three months’ time.

In response to concerns about some of the measures to be adopted, a Member advised that projects such as this could succeed only when underpinned by a good IT infrastructure. It was therefore crucial to get this right. Members supported his sentiments.

 RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning the progress of proposals to relocate the Museum of London and the next steps of the project.

Members noted the comments of the Smithfield Market Tenants’ Association.

The Chairman of the Finance Committee referred to the cost of the project and the arrangements for it to be funded equally between the City Corporation, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and external fund raising. He advised that City Corporation and the GLA had an established match funding arrangement which should not be allowed to drift. Therefore, if it was unlikely that the fund raising target would be met, it was important for any shortfall as well as any additional cost associated with the relocation to be shared equally between both organisations. He reminded the Committee that the City Corporation had already made a considerable contribution by purchasing the site.

Detailed discussion ensued. Whilst it was felt that certain costs, such as the stabilisation works, should be met by the City Corporation, going forward Members were of the view that officers should seek to ensure that the overall principle of sharing the cost of the redevelopment project with the GLA was maintained.

RESOLVED: That:-

1.   the letter from the SMTA be noted and that the decision taken at the July meeting regarding the relocation of the Museum of London be reconfirmed.

2.   in progressing the project, officers should seek to ensure that the overall principle of sharing the cost of matters associated with the Museum with GLA was maintained;

3.   a grant of up to £1.628m be made from City’s Cash reserves to the Museum of London to fund the Museum’s relocation project up to January 2017;

4.   the approval of the final amount of grant, up to £1.628m, be delegated to

Report of the Town Clerk.

Catherine McGuiness took the chair for the following item:-

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning the Crossrail Arts programme and the installation of artwork at Farringdon Station.

RESOLVED – that:-

1.   the proposal for the City of London Corporation to fund an artwork at the Eastern Ticket Hall of Farringdon Station from the existing funding allocation for the Crossrail Art Programme (originally up to £3.5m) at an estimated cost of up to £200,000 be approved and that the sum applied for this purpose did not need to be match-funded by another sponsor;

2.   should the final cost be greater than £200,000, the approval of the final sum to be paid for the artwork from be delegated to the Town Clerk in consultation with two of the Committee’s Deputy Chairmen;

3.   the approval of a variation to the terms agreed in respect of the City Corporation’s match-funding commitment (provided by letter dated 22 June 2015 to the Crossrail Art Foundation and 4 November 2015 to Crossrail Ltd) and which arises from decisions taken in accordance with (1) and (2) above be delegated to the Town Clerk; and

4.   it be noted that no additional resources were required.

Joint report of the Town Clerk, Chamberlain and Remembrancer.

The Committee considered a joint report of the Town Clerk, Chamberlain and Remembrancer on the revenue outturn for 2015/16.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a statement of the Chamberlain on the use of the Policy Initiatives Fund and Committee Contingency for 2016/17.

RESOLVED – That the statement be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk reporting action taken by the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman since the last meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED – That it be noted that, subject to the approval of the Court of Common Council, approval was given to the amendment of Standing Orders as follows:-

·         Standing Order 29: the inclusion of the Statutory Officer Review Panel to the list of Committees where a Member is eligible to become Chairman alongside the Chairmanship of another Grand Committee.

·         Standing Order 63: clarifying the details about the disciplinary procedure to be followed rather than  it being a straight lift from the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Amendments) Regulations 2015.

There were no questions.

Foundation for FutureLondon – Funding

The Chairman advised that he had met with the Chairman of the Foundation for FutureLondon. The Foundation had been set up to establish a culture and education district at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the meeting followed a request for the City Corporation to consider making a financial contribution to the project. Whilst the initial request was declined a further proposal has since been received from the Foundation involving a lesser sum. The Chairman advised that this was currently being looked at and that it might be the subject of a future report to the Committee.

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.

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.

Item Nos.                                                           Paragraph(s) in Schedule 12A

14 - 17                                                                                     3

Part 2 – Non-Public Agenda

To consider non-public minutes of meetings as follows:-

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2016 were approved.

The draft non-public minutes of the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee meeting held on 7 July 2016 were noted and a recommendation relating to the sixth form of the City Academy Hackney was approved.

The draft non-public minutes of the Projects Sub-Committee meeting held on 20 July 2016 were noted.

The draft non-public minutes of the Ceremonial Protocols Working Party meeting held on 28 July 2016 were noted.

The draft non-public minutes of the Hospitality Working Party meeting held on 13 July 2016 were noted.

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the City Surveyor concerning security enhancements at Guildhall.

Joint report of the City Surveyor and the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered and agreed a joint report of the City Surveyor and the Chamberlain concerning arrangements for the City of London Wireless Concession and City WiFi Network project and the use of City Corporation street furniture and building assets to support the deployment of comprehensive mobile telecommunications infrastructure.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk reporting action taken by the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman since the last meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED – That it be noted that approval was given to matters relating to Innovate Finance and the Police Accommodation Strategy Project.

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items.