Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Deputy Michael Cassidy, Dawn Frampton, Alderwoman Martha Grekos, Jaspreet Hodgson, Deputy Shravan Joshi, Deputy Natasha Lloyd-Owen, Judith Pleasance and William Upton.

The Chairman welcomed Alderwoman Grekos to the Committee although apologies had been received.

The Chairman paid tribute to Mark Bostock who had been a Member of the Planning and Transportation Committee from 2017 to 2022. He was described as a gentle and erudite person, who was very knowledgeable and wise. He had contributed greatly to the Committee, and he would be greatly missed. The Chairman, on behalf of the Committee sent his best wishes to Mr Bostock’s friends and family and proposed a 30 second silence in memory of Mr Bostock.

There were no declarations. 

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 18 July.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes of the previous meeting held on 18 July, be approved as an accurate record, subject to the correct spelling of Anthony Fitzpatrick.

MATTERS ARISING:

The Chairman requested an update regarding the letter to TfL regarding Bank Station entrance closures. An Officer stated that a response from TFL was sent to Members in August. The letter acknowledged the issue, and stated steps that were being taken to address it, such as, having more travel ambassadors. Arrangements were in place for people to request for the Walbrook entrance to be opened if they required access to the lift. It was recognised that although this was not an ideal solution, it was ultimately due to staffing resources, which TfL were working to address in the longer term.

The Member who had initially raised the issue, expressed his thanks to Officers and the Chairman of the Planning and Transportation Committee for their work on this matter.

Report of the Town Clerk.

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

A Member requested an update on Heritage training. An Officer explained that the training was being arranged for the coming months and would be delivered by an external expert. 

The Chairman asked for an update on Members’ Training. An Officer stated that Fire Safety training would be scheduled.

A Member asked when the Committee would see the results of the dashboard as listed on item three, as it was important to see performance. An Officer explained that work was underway, and although there were some technical issues, the expected timeline was approximately four weeks. The Officer explained that this would be published with Members being notified.

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee considered a report of the City Surveyor which sought approval to declare a volume of City Fund owned airspace measuring 118.83 square feet, situated at Watling House, 33 Cannon St, London, EC4M 5SB, to be surplus to highway requirements to allow its disposal in conjunction with the permitted development.

An Officer introduced the report stating that planning consent was obtained on 17 December 2020, and this had been approved in principle by the City Engineering Team. The canopy, measuring a total of 133.58 square feet, would encroach on City Corporation airspace. A canopy already existed at the entrance door at Watling House. The proposed replacement canopy did not change the massing of the building, and although the proposed canopy was larger than the previous, it would be situated higher on the building which made it less obstructive to the public highway. The proposed canopy would clear the highway by 5.7 metres in Cannon Street and 5.5 metres on Bread Street, but this was due to the existing slope on the street. The proposed surplus declaration did not extend to the highway stratum, which would remain as public highway and vested in the City Corporation as the highway authority. The airspace in question was not considered necessary for the use of highway and the exercise of the highway and was therefore proposed that subject to the Committee’s agreement, to declare the area of City Fund airspace around at Watling House, 33 Cannon Street, to be surplus to highway requirements. This would enable the City Corporation to dispose of a suitable interest in the airspace, upon terms to be approved by the delegated authority of the City Surveyor.

A Member commented that there was a bollard which would stop a collision but asked for confirmation that highways tracking had taken

Report of the Interim Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee considered a report of the Interim Executive Director Environment on the Transport Strategy Review.

An Officer stated that The Tranpsort Strategy was adopted in May 2019 with a three-year review scheduled at the point of adoption. The review commenced three years later, but due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the review period was extended. This allowed for more engagement, for patterns of work to become more stable, and to collect data accordingly. The strategy was a 25-year plan up to 2040 and was a framework for decisions going forward as well as providing the overall direction which tied into other objectives such as Destination City and the City Climate Action Strategy. The significant changes had been considered by the Streets and Walkways Sub-Committee and public engagement on the proposed changes had taken place.

The Officer outlined the main changes as follows:

-        The vision to be more inclusive, with inclusion embedded in all proposals.

-        The use of the terms ‘wheel’ and ‘wheeling’ to specifically acknowledge the use of pavements and other pedestrian spaces by people who used wheelchairs, mobility scooters and other wheeled mobility aids. These terms had been adopted by other bodies such as Active Travel England and the suggestion had come from mobility aid users.

-        Regarding charging of road users, TfL was working to bring together the congestion and ULEZ changing. This would allow more flexible and area specific approach which could give the City the framework to reduce traffic more effectively in certain areas.

-        To make streets fully accessible, an accessibility tool was used to help with design. This was being updated to make space and streets more accessible and would be applied to all projects.

-        It was anticipated that the legislation around the use of e-scooters could change

Report of the Interim Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee considered a report of the Interim Executive Director, Environment regarding the London Councils’ London Parking and Traffic Enforcement Penalty Charges Consultation.

An Officer explained that London Councils were consulting on whether it was appropriate to increase the penalty charge notice on the City of London’s streets in line with the TfL controlled streets so that there was a consistent approach to fining. Officers recommended that the Committee agree this and support that alignment and respond to London Councils accordingly.

The Chair asked if this still required Central Government’s agreement even if there was unanimity across London. An Officer explained that this still required approval by the Department for Transport.

RESOLVED – That Members approve the proposed response to the consultation on proposed changes to the London Parking and Traffic Enforcement Penalty Charges, set out in paragraph 29 a – h of the Officer report.

Report of the Interim Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee received a report of the Interim Executive Director, Environment regarding an update on activity relating to Wardmote resolutions from the Wards of Aldersgate and Candlewick.

A Member stated that she had found it helpful to receive the update on the Aldersgate Wardmote issue and she had been advised by Officers that they would discuss having greater engagement and communication, with the communications team. The Member added this was relevant not just to his item, but any issues raised by residents which were discussed at Committee and that more should be done to communicate successes. An Officer agreed that there should to be greater communication and stated that he would raise this with the Director of Communications.

RESOLVED – To note the report. 

Report of the Interim Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee received a report of the Interim Executive Director, Environment which provided an update on progress made during Period One (April-July) 2023/24 against the High-Level Business Plan 2023/24 (Appendix 1 of the Officer report) for the service areas of the Environment Department which fell within the remit of the Committee.

RESOLVED – To note the report. 

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee received a report of the City Surveyor on the availability and performance of publicly accessible lifts and escalators monitored and maintained by City Surveyors, in the reporting period 31 July 2023 to 18 September 2023.

RESOLVED – To note the report.

Report of the Interim Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee received a report of the of the Interim Executive Director, Environment regarding a summary of government consultations on proposed new permitted development rights and planning reforms and set out the responses being made.

A Member enquired about the process of submitting responses on government consultations. An Officer explained that the proposed submission was sent to Members a week before it was published for comments. This was an established process which had been carried out previously in other government consultations. Given the timings of the consultations and their deadlines, Officers were unable to submit this to Committee for a discussion, however this had been agreed and covered under delegated powers and Members had been provided with an opportunity for comment.

RESOLVED – That Members note the proposed changes to the planning system, the new permitted development rights; and the consultation responses being made to the Government, as outlined in Appendix 1 of the Officer report.

Report of the Town Clerk.

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

RESOLVED – To note the report.

To note the draft public minutes of the meeting held on 21July.

The Committee received the draft public minutes of the meeting held on 21July 2023.

RECEIVED.

A Member asked for a written explanation as to what caused the five-month delay in completing the works on Riverside Bridge, as this had inconvenienced residents and workers there. It was also requested that a written update on the replacement of the inclinator at Millennium Bridge House be provided and sent to all Members. 

A Member asked, as the Red Badge consultation had concluded, when the results of this would be published. An Officer explained that the results were being analysed and would be reported to the Director by the end of October 2023. The Officer added, that if there were changes to be submitted to the Committee, this would be in the early 2024.

A Member raised an issue following an urgent decision from the Streets and Walkways Committee to release £650,000 from the on-street parking reserve for the Bank Junction to look at the traffic and timing review. The Member enquired whether a report should be submitted to the Planning and Transportation Committee before being submitted to the Streets and Walkways Sub-Committee. She stated that this would enable the full cost of the motion approved at the Court of Common Council, to be considered as well as how it impacted officer resources, and the knock-on impact this had on other projects. The Member also suggested that the weekday Bank Junction restrictions should be in force at weekends, so visitors had the opportunity to explore the City safely. An Officer explained that the financial breakdown would be part of a report to the Planning and Transportation Committee. Officers were responding to the decisions from the Court of Common Council in the context of priorities and the costs in terms of officer time, and the work done to deliver these pieces of work would be quantified. The responses to the

The Chairman provided the Committee with updated numbers from the two new viewing galleries that had opened recently. At 22 Horizon (22 Bishopsgate) the statistics from the first five days of opening were over 86,000 bookings. There were 5,000 booking slots, in the first three minutes, and the weekend was fully booked in two minutes. There were 1,200 walk-ins and no-one was turned away. There were international bookings too from the US, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe.

With regards to 18 Bishopsgate, that had over 17,000 visitors since opening from Mid-August. Over 5,000 walk-in visitors were admitted no pre-booking. Although 22 Horizon was higher, this space was spectacular and being lower, gave it a different perspective.

The Chairman enquired if enough of these spaces had now been provided and whether there were other public benefits from these buildings. An Officer explained that they were seeing ground level benefits from other schemes, but there was evidence to suggest high public appetite for these, and there was an under-supply of this type of space at the moment. The last two galleries were internal viewing galleries, which happened to come online at the same time. Future projects which were under construction included rooftop gardens and terraces and provided a different offer. The focus for these was making each of these unique so there was not a mass supply of the same facilities, as well as these being equally spaced throughout the City.

A Member thanked the Officers and Developers for making these viewing galleries accessible to residents first before the public, and asked if building owners could hold slots for residents so they had priority going forward.  An Officer explained that this experience had been a learning curve as to how they operate, and it relied on public feedback, therefore this

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. 

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2023.

RESOLVED- that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 18 July 2023 be approved as an accurate record.

There were no non-public questions.

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