Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Natasha Lloyd-Owen and James de Sausmarez.

Oliver Sells QC declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 by virtue of the fact that he is also a member of the Capital Buildings Committee and may be perceived, in this capacity, as having predetermined the application. He clarified that he would not, therefore speak or vote on this item.

Judith Pleasance declared a non-pecuniary interest in that she is a member of the Board of Governors of the Museum of London and would also not be speaking or voting on agenda item 6.

Mark Bostock declared a non-pecuniary interest, stating that he is a member of the Markets Committee but that, as that committee had not taken a lead on the plans for the Museum of London, he intended to both speak and vote on agenda item 6.

The Comptroller and City Solicitor advised that participation in Agenda items in which Members have a non-pecuniary interest, needed to be considered by the Member on a case by case basis in accordance with the Code of Conduct (para 14). Whether there is a real danger of bias is a matter for individual Members, knowing all the facts, but if having turned their mind to any previous involvement they might have had in taking decisions on the new museum, they are of the view that they can be impartial and decide the application on the planning merits, then it would seem to be within the range of reasonable decisions for them to conclude there was no real danger of actual or apparent bias and that they are therefore able to speak and vote. It would equally be acceptable for them to decide that they did not wish to participate in the decision on this application.She added that paragraph 34 of the City’s Guidance to Members on the Code

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 2 June 2020.

The Committee considered the public minutes and non-public summary of the virtual meeting held on 2 June 2020 and approved them as a correct record.

MATTERS ARISING

E-Scooters (page 16) – Officers clarified that a report on e-scooters that they had originally hoped to bring to this meeting had been delayed as Department for Transport (DfT) guidance on e-scooter trials had not been published in sufficient time for them to be considered ahead of the paper deadline for today. They highlighted that this report would now therefore be put to the 14 July meeting of this Committee.

Changes to the Congestion Charge (page 19) – Officers reported that the letter sent by the Chair and Deputy Chair to the Mayor of London on this matter had been circulated to all Members of the Committee. It was highlighted that the temporary changes to the congestion charge came into effect yesterday and that TfL had confirmed that the reimbursement scheme for NHS and care home staff would be extended to local authority workers and charity workers providing certain support services during the ongoing pandemic. This would include domicilary care workers providing services on behalf of a local authority. The deadline for applying for residents discounts had also been extended to 1 August 2020 to provide those residents not currently registered with additional time to submit their applications. Finally, Members were informed that Officers were still awaiting clarification as to the timetable and process for reviewing these temporary changes and would look to bring updates on this to the Committee when they were available.

A Member commented that he was disappointed in the limited response received to the Chair’s letter. He added that a lack of clarification around the temporary period was also concerning as was the 1 August cut off

To receive the draft public minutes and summary of the Sub-Committee meeting held on 26 May 2020.

The Committee received the draft public minutes of the virtual meeting of the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee held on 26 May 2020.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk.

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

Barbican and Golden Lane Conservation Area

A Member highlighted that a Conservation Management Plan was still awaited for this area in the form of a Supplementary Planning Document. He added that this was originally approved by this Committee in October 2018 and that he had requested an update on progress on several occasions since. He asked that this also now be included within the list of Outstanding Actions so that it was not lost sight of entirely.

The Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director reported that Officers were scheduling to bring this matter to Committee in Autumn 2020 and that the document was currently in draft form.

The Town Clerk undertook to update the list of Outstanding Actions accordingly.

Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) re: Housing

Officers reported that the intention was to bring something on this matter to the next meeting of this Committee on 14 July 2020. Work was currently underway to finalise whether this would be a full review of the SPD or a partial review looking at affordable housing elements only.

The Chair added that Officers were trying to balance making concessions to developers where it was felt that they were appropriate in relation to economic recovery from the current pandemic with the need to reflect the Committee’s wishes to correct current practices regarding affordable housing.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

The Committee considered a report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director regarding an application for the Poultry Market and General Market and The Annexe Buildings West Smithfield London EC1A 9PS. With regard to the General Market  - proposals involved the partial demolition, repair, refurbishment and extension of the existing building known as the General Market at 43 Farringdon Street on the basement, ground, first and roof levels; creation of a new entrance structure on West Poultry Avenue (and associated refurbishment of the existing canopy over West Poultry Avenue) with new facades to West Smithfield and Charterhouse Street; new entrances on the corner of Farringdon Street and Charterhouse Street; Change of use to provide a museum and ancillary uses and areas, together with a flexible retail, restaurant, drinking establishment and leisure (gym) use for the perimeter 'houses'.

Proposals for the Poultry Market included partial demolition, repair, refurbishment and alteration of the existing building known as the Poultry Market, Charterhouse Street at basement, ground and first levels; change of use to a museum and ancillary uses and areas.

Proposals for the Annexe Site (Red House, Iron Mountain,  Fish Market and Engine House) include the partial demolition, refurbishment and extension of the existing buildings known as the Annexe Site at 25 Snow Hill and 29 Smithfield Street at basement, ground, first, second  and third levels; creation of a triple height canopy above a public realm space; change of use to a flexible museum, offices, retail, restaurant, drinking establishment, events and functions use. Refurbishment of and minor alterations to the existing building known as the Engine House at West Smithfield at basement and ground levels; Change of use to a flexible retail and museum use.

(The proposal would provide 33,340sq.m of Museum floorspace (Class D1), 4254sq.m of flexible A1/A2/A3/A4/B1/D1 & D2 floorspace,

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

The Committee considered a report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director in respect of 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ - Part refurbishment and part demolition, excavation and redevelopment involving the erection of an additional four storeys to provide a ground plus 13 storey building with publicly accessible route through the site, incorporating gym and swimming pool (Use Class D2) at basement levels, gym and flexible floor area uses (Use Classes A1-A5, B1, D2) at basement level, retail (A1-A5) at ground floor level with access to offices and rooftop restaurant and public viewing gallery, office accommodation (Use Class B1a) from levels 1-13, roof top restaurant (Use Class A3) and publicly and privately accessible roof terraces, landscaping and other associated works.

Officers presented the scheme highlighting that it supports the circular economy as it part adaptation and part new build, retaining the super structure and floor plates in so far as possible, reusing materials and working with existing foundations. This would all be secured by conditions. The scheme would be reimagining an existing, dated building, turning it into an animated, outward facing development in a pivotal location, maximising the opportunities of the gateway to the Culture Mile and the north/south route from the Tate Modern.

With regard to plans to the existing and proposed plans for ground floor level, in the north-east and southern elements, the curved corners were retained as part of the existing buildings that is adapted. In the south-west corner, the staggered footprint of the newly proposed intervention was visible. The vehicle loading area which currently existed on Angel Street was to be reused and there was also a cycle entrance on the Angel Street elevation. Three atria defined the entrances on the south, east and west and an important new public route from Saint

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of the Built Environment in respect of the Transportation response to support Covid-19 recovery (Phase 3): City Streets.

A Member congratulated Officers on their rapid progress, creativity and agility in this area and questioned whether if, as anticipated, social distancing guidelines were to be imminently amended from 2m to 1m, what changes, if any, would be made to existing Phase 1 works and whether this would also have implications for phases 2 and 3. He went on to note that this report made no mention of Guildhall Yard which was a substantial space with small permanent and temporary seating provisions available and questioned whether this was therefore an oversight. The Chair reported that the Prime Minister had just announced that social distancing was to be reduced from 2m to 1m as of 4 July 2020. Officers highlighted that this was the change that all had anticipated. In terms of Phase 1 works, Officers were moving towards changing the initial, coned areas established to more semi-permanent measures which could still be easily removed if required. This would also offer the opportunity to revise or tweak these in accordance with today’s announcement. Similarly, as Phase 2 works began to be rolled out, these could be assessed as they progressed. Officers clarified that they did not, however, think that this change in social distancing would make a significant difference to plans for Phases 1 and 2. Even on streets with wider pavements such as Cheapside, additional space would be needed to accommodate queuing outside premises as well as space for pedestrians to pass by at a safe distance. In terms of Phase 3 proposals, adequate space and seating would still need to be identified to help support food and drinks retailers regardless of any relaxations.

Report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection in respect of the assessment criteria, financial implications and processes in response to COVID-19 lockdown and easing thereof in respect of tables and chairs licences, which had been suspended during lockdown. 

A Member commented that Officers needed to ensure that any interaction with businesses was expedited as granting these licences would be an existential issue for many food and beverage outlets. Whilst not wishing in any way to slow the process down, he also questioned whether there could be any Member oversight of applications. Officers reported that they had already proactively reached out to businesses during lockdown in this respect and had listened keenly to their concerns. They were obviously keen to maximise their opportunities and work in partnership with the City Corporation in order to do so. Once Members had reached a decision today, site by site decisions would be turned around very quickly and fed back to businesses so that they were able to use this in their planning. Officers also undertook to look at introducing Member visibility to the process.

Another Member encouraged a more positive and proactive as opposed to a regulatory approach in terms of identifying sites that could be used for tables and chairs and those businesses looking to introduce these opportunities to get the City back up and running. The Chair noted that this report was written from the perspective of those businesses that already had licences and would like to see them reintroduced but there were, of course, those premises who had not traded using outside space previously, that also needed to be proactively targeted which Officers had undertaken to do.

A Member stated that he hoped that Officers could very quickly understand where they may be additional opportunities

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee received a report of the City Surveyor regarding public lift operations.

A Member commented that this was at least the second time that the Silk Street lift had experienced an extensive outage due to the BT telephone circuit. He questioned whether Officers had looked into making this a wireless connection to overcome this issue. The City Surveyor reported that this was exaclty what Officers were investigating at present.

The City Surveyor confirmed that all other lifts were now back in service with the exception of the London Wall Up escalator which continued to be worked on and would be in service by the end of this week.

A Member referred to the Blackfriars Bridge escalator being out of service at present. The Chair asked that Officers discuss this matter further with the Member offline.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

The Committee received a report of the Interim Chief Planning Officer and Development Director detailing development and advertisement applications determined by the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director or those so authorised under their delegated powers since the report to the last meeting.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director.

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

RECEIVED.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk advising Members of action taken by the Town Clerk since the last formal meeting of the Committee, in consultation with the Chair and Deputy Chairman, in accordance with Standing Order No. 41.

RESOLVED – That Members note the report.

There were no questions.

There were no additional, urgent items of business for consideration.

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 of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act as follows:-

Item No(s)                                         Paragraph No(s)

                  17                                                              3

                  18                                                              7

                  19                                                           3 & 5

               20 – 21                                                         -          

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 2 June 2020.

The Committee considered the non-public minutes of the virtual meeting held on 2 June 2020 and approved them as a correct record.

Joint report of the Director of the Built Environment and the Commissioner of the City of London Police.  

The Committee considered and approved a joint report of the Director of the Built Environment and the Commissioner of the City of London Police concerning the Secure City Programme.

Joint report of the Town Clerk & Chief Executive, the Chief Grants Officer & Director of City Bridge Trust.

The Committee received a joint report of the Town Clerk and Chief Executive and The Chief Grants Officer and Director of City Bridge Trust providing Members with an update on the work that has been undertaken as part of the Bridge House Estates strategic governance review since the last report in December 2019/January 2020.

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.