Agenda item

Minutes

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 29 January 2019.

Minutes:

The public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 29 January 2019 were considered.

 

MATTERS ARISING

Members’ Declarations under the Code of Conduct in Respect of Items on the Agenda (page 2) – Susan Pearson asked that the minutes of the last meeting be amended to read that she had “declared that the Standards Committee considered that she had a pecuniary interest in Item 10………………”. She added that she had made it clear at the last meeting that she did not consider that she had a pecuniary interest in a tree. The Town Clerk undertook to amend the minute accordingly.

 

Dockless Bikes (page 2) – The Chairman informed the Committee that he, together with a number of other Members and Senior Officers, had met with Freebike – a dockless e-bike hire operator. Freebike had proposed a service that has the potential to provide well-managed dockless cycle hire that is suitable for the City context. Members were informed that Officers were now developing options for a trial to allow operators meeting the necessary requirements to place bikes within the Square Mile. A report seeking approval for the trial would be put to the Committee at its 18 March meeting.

 

The Chairman explained that, subject to approval, the trial was expected to begin in May 2019. The trial would allow operators to place a limited number of bikes at appropriate locations within the Square Mile. Customers would also be required to leave bikes at these locations. This would allow the City Corporation to test the effectiveness of additional controls that are likely to become available should a London-wide byelaw be adopted. The results of the trial would be used to inform the City Corporation’s long-term approach to dockless cycle hire and the application of any proposed byelaw within the Square Mile.

 

Planning Appeal Decisions (page 13) – A Member referred to a recent High Court case won by Westminster regarding telephone kiosks where a judge had ruled that such structures served a 'dual purpose' of both communications and advertising and therefore should not benefit from permitted development rights. The Member praised the efforts of Westminster on this matter and expressed disappointment that the City had not taken similar action. He went on to state that he hoped that this would, however, set a precedent from which the City could benefit going forward.

 

The Comptroller and City Solicitor clarified that the City had also raised this matter in previous appeals and were aware that Westminster were progressing this and so had awaited the outcome on the issue rather than duplicate efforts. The Committee were informed that the City currently had a number of cases progressing at present and that further representations referring to this recent judgement had now been made.   

 

A Member made a plea to Officers to ensure that existing telephone kiosks within the City were operational and that, if this were not the case, they were removed. She went on to refer to the fact that kiosks that were not operational were frequently used for other purposes.

 

Committee Tour of the Bloomberg Building (page 18) – A Member wished to thank Officers for the recent, superb, Committee Tour of the Bloomberg Building. The Chairman reported that a second visit had been organised for 20 February for those who had been unable to make the first.

 

Questions on Matters Relating to the Work of the Committee (page 19) – A Member questioned progress around works to the Thames Court Footbridge as he had been informed that these were to be the subject of further delays. He stressed the need to have the footbridge open to the public again as soon as possible.

 

The Director of the Built Environment reported that there had been some technical issues with the maintenance works and that an urgency report seeking further funding to rectify these would be sent to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Planning and Transportation Committee amongst others for consideration. He added that this would, inevitably, lead to some sort of delay to the reopening of the footbridge but that it was hoped that this could be minimised by dealing with the matter under urgency.

 

In response to questions, the Committee were informed that the additional funding sought would be approximately £100,000.

 

The Chairman assured Members that he would do his upmost to continue to focus Officers on this matter and to help minimise any delay to the works where possible.

 

RESOLVED – That, subject to the amendment above, the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 29 January 2019 be approved as a correct record.

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