Agenda item

Ludgate Circus

A member questioned what progress had been made since the last meeting and the Chairman reported that a letter had now been sent to TfL, a copy of which would be circulated to the Committee.

The member expressed concern at the length of time it had taken for the letter to be sent, and asked whether or not it had also been signed by the Chairman of Policy and Resources as agreed at the last meeting.

The Director of the Built Environment advised that an additional letter would be prepared as a matter of urgency, and gave her assurance that the issue would be treated as a priority.

Thames Court Footbridge

A member expressed disappointment that there had been no further progress on the Thames Court Footbridge and asked why this was the case.

The Assistant Director, Engineering advised that the form of deed to 'acquire' the structure had been agreed before Christmas and officers were now pushing for completion by the 12th of January.

The initial inspection had been completed in December and the consultant’s report was currently being drafted and had been promised to be with City officers by the 12 January. There had been some delay caused by the longer than expected time required to secure a highway closure from TfL. During this time officers had established the company responsible for the original bridge design and requested that they explore their archives to retrieve original design detail etc.

Officers were meeting with senior members of the term consultant engineers to review their costings and time allocation for the next stage of investigations which would be a detailed structural assessment and loadings report. Assuming final costings could be agreed it was expected that this work would be commissioned before the end of January.

The member advised that the situation remained unsatisfactory and indicated that he would be submitting his question to the Court of Common Council requesting a more detailed response.