Agenda and minutes

Venue: Livery Hall - Guildhall

Contact: Gemma Stokley
tel. no.: 020 7332 3414  Email: gemma.stokley@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Douglas Barrow, Peter Dunphy, Michael Hudson Natasha Lloyd-Owen, Deputy Brian Mooney (Chief Commoner) and James de Sausmare.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

2.

Members' Declarations under the Code of Conduct in respect of items on the agenda

Minutes:

There were no declarations.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 301 KB

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held virtually on 16 February 2021 (TO FOLLOW).

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 3.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the late, separately circulated public minutes and summary of the meeting held virtually on 16 February 2021 and approved them as a correct record.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

2-3 FINSBURY AVENUE LONDON EC2M 2PF pdf icon PDF 4 MB

Report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 4.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director regarding 2-3 Finsbury Avenue, London, EC2M 2PF – specifically, the demolition of the existing buildings and construction of a new building arranged over three basement levels, ground and 37 upper floors to provide an office-led, mixed use development comprising commercial, business and service uses (Class E), flexible commercial, business and service uses / drinking establishment uses (Class E/Sui Generis); and learning and non-residential institutions uses (Class F1); creation of a new pedestrian route through the site at ground floor level; hard and soft landscaping works; outdoor seating associated with ground level uses and other works incidental to the development.

 

The Town Clerk introduced the item, highlighting that Members had also received a virtual site video clip, an applicant’s brochure and two late addendums circulated earlier this week.

 

The Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director presented the scheme and began by apologising for the late circulation of the two addendums relating to this item. He added that this was, however, inevitable as any late representations had to be reviewed by Officers and reported to Committee.

 

He went on to report that the proposal today was around the comprehensive redevelopment of 2-3 Finsbury Avenue, a site on the northern most boundary of the City, adjoining the London Borough of Hackney to the north, Islington to the north-west and Tower Hamlets to the east. It was therefore very much a gateway site to the City and part of the Broadgate estate which had already been the subject of a number of applications and was currently undergoing a radical transformation which was being overseen by British Land. Members were informed that the building itself was not in a conservation area but was adjacent to  conservation areas in both Islington

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Anonymisation of Members in Minutes pdf icon PDF 154 KB

Report of the Town Clerk.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 5.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk concerning the Anonymisation of Members in minutes. 

 

A Member reminded the Committee that, two months ago, he had put forward a simple proposal that the minutes of these meetings be made more transparent by identifying Members’ contributions by name. He had also proposed that the way that all Members vote be recorded. He noted that these proposals had not generated much resistance from the Committee but seemed, from the report, to have generated a lot of resistance from Officers. It was noted that the report set out two main reasons for maintaining the status quo – the first was around the existing house style of the City Corporation and the second was that this should be considered as part of the ongoing Governance Review. The Member suggested that he was unconvinced by either of these arguments stating that the most quoted criticism within the Lisvane report had been around the ‘complexity and slowness of decision-making within the Corporation was extraordinary and sclerotic’, often taking months of consideration by multiple committees. He highlighted that the matter was already being considered by this Committee for a third time today with the report elevating this simple matter to being a governance issue needing to be considered by the Policy and Resources Committee which might, in turn, refer it on to the Resource Allocation Committee (RASC). The report went on to recommend that the matter actually be considered over an even longer time scale and be discussed in future Member consultation meetings at some point before March 2022 before recommendations were taken to RASC, Policy and Resources and ultimately the Court. The Member felt that the report failed to address many of the points made by Members previously around the merits of making minutes more

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Gateway 2 - Car Parks - Fire Remedial Works pdf icon PDF 224 KB

Report of the City Surveyor.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 6.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the City Surveyor regarding Gateway 2 – Car Parks – Fire Remedial Works. 

 

RESOLVED – That the Committee:

1.    Approve  a budget of £30,000 to carry out detailed surveys to reach the next gateway. 

2.    Note the total estimated cost of the project of £300,000 (excluding risk).

3.    Note that there is a Costed Risk of £60,000 (post-mitigation).

4.    Note the total estimated cost of the project of £360,000 (including risk).

5.    Note that ‘in principle’ central funding from City Fund reserves was agreed as part of the 2020/21 annual capital bids, with draw down subject to the further approval of the Resource Allocation Sub and Policy and Resources Committees.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

2020/21 Business Plan Update Q3 pdf icon PDF 168 KB

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 7.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Director of the Built Environment setting out the progress made during Q3 of the 2020/21 Departmental Business Plan.

 

RESOLVED – That Members note the report and appendices.

 

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Deep Dive: CR21 Air Quality pdf icon PDF 182 KB

Report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 8.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection providing Members with a Deep Dive in to CR21 Air Quality.

 

A Member spoke to thank Officers for a very interesting report. He went on to question what the predicted changes in nitrogen dioxide were due to the roll out of electric vehicles and sought confirmation as to whether this would affect particulates. He also questioned the relative importance of nitrogen dioxide and particulates in terms of health impacts. Finally, he questioned whether there were any figures available on the contribution of things such as plant on building sites and air conditioning units. Officers responded to state that electric vehicles would have a measurable impact, particularly on nitrogen dioxide, and reported that a dramatic reduction had been seen in Beech Street this year since the area had been restricted to zero emission vehicles for example. Members were informed that the impact on nitrogen dioxide would be greater than the particulates given that there were a lot more sources that contributed to particulates and particulate emissions however, that being said, there were some particulate emissions that came from exhausts whilst others were associated with general tyre and break wear. It was therefore reported that, for as long as there were motorised vehicles, there would be some particulate matter associated with these.

 

In relation to the relative contribution of building plant, Officers reported that the breakdown had previously been approximately 50/50 in terms of emissions from vehicles compared with other sources but that, with vehicles becoming a lot cleaner, they were seeing this relative contribution change and this now translated as approximately 60% of emissions originating from non-transport sources and 40% from vehicles. In terms of health impacts, the Committee were informed that the greatest health impact came from

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Outstanding Items pdf icon PDF 136 KB

Report of the Town Clerk.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 9.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk detailing the Committee’s outstanding actions.

 

The Town Clerk undertook to update the list in light of decisions taken today.

 

RECEIVED.

 

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Public Lift Report pdf icon PDF 160 KB

Report of the City Surveyor.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 10.

Minutes:

The Committee received a public lift report of the City Surveyor for the period 30/01/2021 – 10/02/2021.

 

RESOLVED – That Members note the report.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

DELEGATED DECISIONS OF THE CHIEF PLANNING OFFICER AND DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 11.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director providing Members with a list detailing development applications received by the Department of the Built Environment since the report to the last meeting.

 

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

 

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

VALID PLANNING APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 12.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director providing Members with a list detailing development applications received by the Department of the Built Environment since the report to the last meeting.

 

RESOLVED – That Members note the report.

 

 

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

Questions on matters relating to the work of the committee

Minutes:

Links to recordings of meetings

A Member questioned whether it would be possible to include links to meeting recordings in the minutes of future meetings. The Town Clerk undertook to discuss this proposal with the wider Committee and Member Services Team to see if this could be easily implemented and report back.

 

Consultation on City Plan 2036

A Member noted that the City Plan 2036 page on the public webpages stated that public consultation on the document had been delayed due to the change in Use Classes Orders but that this would commence in January 2021. He noted that this had not yet happened and questioned what the revised timetable for this was. Officers reported that they were now hoping to commence public consultation on the Plan in March 2021 as it had taken longer than anticipated to collate all of the necessary statutory documentation. It was reported that all members of the Court would be informed once the consultation was live.

 

YouTube links for meetings

A Member questioned whether the link to view these meetings live on YouTube could be placed on the front page of each meeting rather than solely on the PDF document which some found difficult to locate. The Town Clerk undertook to take this matter forward with colleagues in IT and seek to implement as soon as possible.

 

 

 

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Any other Business that the Chairman considers urgent

Minutes:

Running Track

A Member reported that, at present, Officers were evaluating permeable footway material in terms of climate change resilience. He went on to seek support from the Committee to ask that Officers also include in their study of new materials for public realm low impact exercise surfaces such as resin using recycled rubber crumbs given that this kind of material could also be made permeable. Further to this, if the installation, maintenance costs and robustness of such material was found to be satisfactory and sufficient to be added to the public realm together with their other public footway materials, the Member stated that he would also like to ask Officers to bring a report to this Committee on the use of public land for free exercise facilities.

 

The Chair asked that Officers consider this proposal and report back to the Member.

 

 

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.