Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Ian Bishop-Laggett, Anthony Fitzpatrick, Deputy Marianne Fredericks, Alderman and Sheriff Alastair King, Deputy Graham Packham and Judith Pleasance.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 1 November 2022.

The Committee considered the public minutes of the meeting held on 1 November 2022 and approved them as a correct record.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk setting out the current Terms of Reference for the Planning and Transportation Committee.

The Town Clerk highlighted that the Terms of Reference contained some minor amendments since the April 2022 Court approval to reflect recent changes in terms of the addition of a new Planning Applications Sub-Committee and a job title change.

RESOLVED - That the terms of reference of the Committee (as set out at Appendix 1 to the report) be approved for submission to the Court of Common Council in April 2023.

Report of the Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Environment, requesting consent to develop and implement a proposal to allow the District Surveyors Office to act as a central HUB, and initial single point of contact, for all London Building Control departments when being requested to provide Building Regulation services by the Building Safety Regulator.

The District Surveyor introduced the report by highlighting that, since the Grenfell tragedy in 2017, the Government had been looking at fire safety across all buildings but particularly high-rise, residential buildings. Since then, there had been a number of changes to fire safety legislation and building regulations with the Building Safety Act receiving Royal ascent last year. Part of this would see significant changes to how building control was delivered nationally with building control surveyors having to register with the Building Safety Regulator and a new Building Safety Regulator looking at the fire safety and general safety of all buildings. This would be part of the Health and Safety Executive. It would also see the Building Safety Regulator becoming a Building Control Authority for high-risk buildings (residential buildings over 18 metres or 7 storeys high). Those wishing to construct a building of this type would therefore be required to submit an application to the Building Safety Regulator as opposed to a Local Authority Building Control Department or a private Building Control Company.

The District Surveyor went on to explain that the Building Safety Regulator, under Section 13 of the new Building Safety Act, had the power to approach a local authority department to help them carry out their duties under the building regulations. This would result in the Building Safety Regulator having to consult with over 300 different local authorities and so they had now asked that local authorities group together and form a single

Report of the Planning & Development Director.

The Committee received a report of the Planning and Development Director presenting the City’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 (S106) infrastructure Funding Statement as at 2021/22 which summarised the City’s CIL and S106 balances at the end of the financial year.

RESOLVED – That Members note the content of this report for publication on the City’s web site.

Report of the Planning Development Director.

The Committee received a report of the Planning and Development Director responding to a request from Members for information on office development trends and the office evidence base being developed to support the City Plan.

The report outlined the methodology used to arrive at the City Plan office floorspace target, recent employment projections for the City, office development trends and progress towards meeting City Plan targets. It also outlined the scope of consultancy work that is being commissioned to look at future office needs and demand, including the impacts of hybrid working and demand for lower graded office stock.

A Member questioned the scope of the consultation outlined within the report which failed to refer to City residents. She therefore asked that the scope be clarified and spoke on the impact of increased office floorspace in primarily residential parts of the City as well as the importance of including reference to the impact on residents in the behavioural aspects of the study. Officers responded to state that the study was largely intended to look at the need and demand for office floorspace and to respond to a number of questions posed by Members (through the Local Plans Sub-Committee in particular) as to the impact of the pandemic and changes in working patterns on this. The focus of this piece of work was therefore to try to establish what quantum of office floorspace is required in the City going forward to meet likely employment projections as well as to ensure that the City’s economy could continue to flourish and thereby support the regional and national economy. The scope set out within the report explained what outcomes Officers were hoping to achieve as opposed to how this would be done.  That being said, Officers undertook o discuss this further with the consultants

The Planning & Development Director to be heard.  

The Chairman updated the Committee on the forthcoming awayday set for 27^th January.

He explained that the day would focus on four distinct areas of Policy (Sustainability and Climate Action, Policy Framework, Destination City and Infrastructure) and encouraged as many as possible to attend in person on the day to contribute to discussions in a more informal setting. He reported that Professor Peter Sharratt would be facilitating and leading the day.

RECEIVED.  

Report of the Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Environment providing an update on progress made during Period Two (August-November) 2022/23 against the High-Level Business Plan 2022/23 for the service areas of the Environment Department which fall within the remit of this Committee.

RESOLVED – That Members note the content of this report and its appendices.

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee considered a report of the City Surveyor outlining the availability and performance of publicly accessible lifts and escalators monitored and maintained by City Surveyor’s, in the reporting period 3 November 2022 to 14 December 2022.

A Member referred to the London Wall West lift and highlighted that the report suggested that a fault was rectified in November 2022 with the lift running successfully since that time. He stated that, unfortunately, this was not his experience and that, whilst the doors opened, the lift failed to move. He therefore questioned how these statistics were gathered and whether they were dependent upon the lifts ‘self-reporting’ faults. The City Surveyor reported that a further fault had been identified on the London Wall West lift which had now been rectified rendering the lift fully operational once more. He commented that there was an ongoing issue with gaining access to this particular lift motor room within 1 London Wall when faults arose. With regard to the wider question on reporting figures and the system generating these, the Officer undertook to gather further information on this before reporting back.

RESOLVED – That Members note the report.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk setting out its list of Outstanding Actions.

Member Training

Officers reported that the Member training programme that had run previously was now to be reinstated and would focus on a variety of technical and live issues relating to Planning. The programmes would be run on a quarterly basis and would be offered using both in-house and external expertise where appropriate. Officers undertook to present a more detailed plan to Members at the March Committee.

A Member asked if a link to the SharePoint site that contained recordings of all previous training sessions could be shared with the Committee in advance of the launch of the new programme. The Town Clerk undertook to circulate this information to all.

RECEIVED.

To note the draft public minutes of the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee meeting on 8 November 2022.

The Committee received the draft public minutes and non-public summary of the Streets & Walkways Sub Committee meeting on 8 November 2022.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk advising Members of action taken by the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, in accordance with Standing Order Nos. 41(a) and 41(b) since the last meeting of the Planning & Transportation Committee.

RESOLVED - That Members note the action taken since the last meeting of the Committee.

Recycling of old building materials

A Member commented that he had recently passed the Charterhouse School site where new sash windows had been installed and had questioned hose on site as to what happened to the wooden frames of the old windows. He reported that he had been disappointed to learn that these were disposed of in a rubbish skip as opposed to being reused in some manner. He therefore asked Officers to confirm whether there was a process in place to ensure that recycling of materials was happening and was enforced in any way.

Officers reported that this was monitored for major applications and was based on London Plan Policy where conditions were attached that required applicants to demonstrate that targets had been met in terms of recycling and reuse of materials at various different stages during the course of development through to occupation. Officers highlighted that they were also seeking to develop a new condition that would help to design out construction waste on minor applications where there was substantial demolition.

(The Deputy Chairman left the meeting whilst this mater was under discussion owing to a professional conflict of interest with regard to Charterhouse School)

40 Leadenhall Street S278 highway works – Amended Land Adoption Request

With the permission of the Chair, the Committee considered a late, separately circulated report of the Executive Director, Environment.

Officers reported that, as part of the Section 278 project at 40 Leadenhall Street, it was proposed that the City adopt a section of private highway at the corner of Fenchurch Street and Fenchurch Buildings to become public highway. Approval to alter the area of the previously agreed land adoption (originally agreed to in 2014) sits with the Planning and Transportation Committee. This report therefore asked Members to consider this amended adoption. It was reported that the other elements of the Section 278 project were being considered by the Streets & Walkways and Operational Property & Projects Sub Committees in January 2023 so that the Section 278 agreement can be signed, and funding exchanged. The amendment proposed was in order to make the area in question easier to maintain for both parties.

A Member questioned the logic of this proposal and including part of the paved area within the amended adoption. Officers stated that any pavement here was likely to be part of the overhang of the building around the private entrance. They added that the blue area on the plans circulated would be seen as public highway whether it formed part of the amended adoption or not. Officers highlighted that the green line around the development was part of the original public highway boundary. However, the building line in the new development had receded. It was now therefore proposed that the space between the red and green line be adopted which was currently private land.

Another Member questioned whether the curved line on the plan was indicative of a curb line and, if so, what the logic of adopting some of

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.

RESOLVED – 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 No(s)

                 17                                                                           3

                 18                                                                      3, 5 & 7

                 19                                                                           3

              20-21                                                                         -

Report of the Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee received a report of the Executive Director, Environment setting out new governance arrangements for the allocation of the Community Infrastructure Levy and On-Street Parking Reserves.

Report of the Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain informing Members of arrears of invoiced income as at 30th September 2022 and providing an analysis of this debt.

To note the draft non-public minutes of the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee meeting on 8 November 2022.

The Committee received the draft non-public minutes of the Streets & Walkways Sub Committee meeting on 8 November 2022.

There were no questions raised in the non-public session.

There were no additional, urgent items of business for consideration in the non-public session.