Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Roger Chadwick, Stuart Fraser, Henry Pollard, Sir David Wotton and Alan Yarrow.

Alderman Jeffrey Evans declared an interest in item no. 16 relating to St Lawrence Jewry Church as the Church Warden.

To consider minutes as follows:-

The public minutes of the meeting held on 2 October 2014 were approved.

The draft public minutes of the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee meeting held on 2 October 2014 were noted.

The draft public minutes of the Projects Sub-Committee meeting held on 8 October 2014 were noted.

The draft public minutes of the Members’ Privileges Sub-Committee meeting held on 1 October 2014 were noted.

Minute from the Education Board meeting held 16 October 2014 together with a report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a resolution from the Education Board of 16 October 2014 together with a report of the Town Clerk concerning the recruitment of a part-time consultant project manager for a period of six months to assist with the creation of an Education Office for the Livery Schools Link.

RSOLVED - that £13, 000 be provided in 2014/15 and £3,000 in 2015/16 from the Committee’s City’s Cash contingency for those years to fund the recruitment of a part-time consultant project manager for a period of six months to assist with the creation of an Education Office for the Livery Schools Link.

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of the Built Environment concerning the City Corporation’s response to Transport for London’s (TfL) public consultation exercise on its Cycle Superhighways.

A Member, who was also the Deputy of the Ward of Castle Baynard, referred to the number of accidents which had occurred in the Ward and as a consequence she was keen to ensure that any concerns expressed did not delay the implementation of necessary safety improvements. The Chairman assured Members that safety was a key issue for the City Corporation and that the impact of the cycle superhighways on safety for cyclists and pedestrians was one of its concerns.

The Chairman also advised that the structure of the proposed letter of response would benefit from some modest changes, such as, placing more emphasis on the narrative in point 13 by setting it out as a separate paragraph. He therefore sought agreement to some minor changes being made. Members supported the suggestion.

RESOLVED - that approval be given to the following:-

1.    the future use of Castle Baynard Street for the East-West Cycle Superhighway on the condition that the North-West route proposals are agreed with the City Corporation prior to its implementation; and

2.    the submission of the City Corporation’s response TfL’s consultation exercise as set out in Annex 2 of the report, subject to minor alterations to the final wording.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk on the progress made towards achieving the objectivities set out in the departmental business plan.

In response to a query about the departmental risk register, the Assistant Town Clerk undertook to ensure that the register was included in future quarterly updates.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and its content noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a report of the Chamberlain concerning the implementation of the Risk Management Strategy recently approved by the Audit and Risk Committee.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and its content noted.

Report of the Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries setting out the progress of the City Corporation’s Visitor Strategy which was adopted last year.

Reference was made to the Magna Carta on display in the new Heritage Gallery and it was suggested that it would be helpful to have information available in the West Wing Reception area highlighting the gallery. Members also felt that it would be useful for them to be provided with details of the events taking place in Guildhall Yard and it was suggested that in future a notice indicating events taking place in forthcoming weeks should be placed in the Members’ area on the 3^rd floor. The Committee supported both suggestions.

RESOLVED – That the content of the report be noted and that the Director of Culture, Heritage and Libraries be requested to arrange for information on the Heritage Gallery to be available in the West Wing Reception area and that the Remembrancer be asked to provide a notice setting out the events taking place in Guildhall Yard to be placed in the Members area on the 3^rd floor in future.

Report of the Director of Economic Development.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Economic Development setting out the outcome of the Chairman’s recent visit to New York and Washington DC.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and its content noted.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered a statement of the Chamberlain on activities relating to the Policy Initiatives Fund and the Committee’s contingency for 2014/15.

RESOLVED – That the content of the report be noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk reporting action taken by the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman since the last meeting of the Committee in accordance with standing orders.

RESOLVED – That it be noted that approval was given to the following:-

1.    the provision of £20,000 in sponsorship of the CER Conference ‘Is Europe’s economic stagnation inevitable or policy-driven?’ at Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire, which took place on 3-4 October 2014;

2.    £25,000 for a number of events with King’s College London as part of the ‘Europe in Crisis’ project;

3.    £35,000 for research on the City of London’s position in the EU to be carried out by Policy Network;

4.    legal and other related fees for setting up the Crossrail Art Foundation at a cost not exceeding £20,000; and

5.    matched fund-raising in order to continue the appointment of Global Cities for a further period of up to 12 months (at £5,000 per month), not exceeding £60,000.

In response to a question about the current political climate in the US and the timing of the recent visit, the Chairman advised that the visit had been timed around the IMF World Banking Annual Meeting participation in which allowed the City Corporation to expand its network of contacts

There were no items of urgent business.

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.

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:-

Item Nos.                              Paragraph(s) in Schedule 12A

            22 – 28                                                           3

To consider non-public minutes of meetings as follows:-

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 2 October 2014 were approved.

The draft non-public minutes of the Resource Allocation Sub-Committee meeting held on 2 October 2014 were noted.

The draft non-public minutes of the Projects Sub-Committee meeting held on 8 October 2014 were noted.

The draft non-public minutes of the Hospitality Working Party meeting held on 21 October 2014 were noted.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Town Clerk concerning a memorandum of understanding between the City Corporation, the Guild Church Council of St Lawrence Jewry and the London Diocesan Fund in relation to refurbishment works, maintenance and funding at the Church.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Chamberlain concerning the progress and funding of the City Telecommunications Strategy. During discussion the Chairman highlighted the importance of the issue of connectivity and advised that the City Corporation would be making a public statement on the matter.

Report of the Remembrancer.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Remembrancer outlining options for the purchase of caskets for presentation to Heads of State.

Report of the City Surveyor.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the City Surveyor concerning the outcome of the Guildhall Accommodation Project.

Report of the Chief Grants Officer.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Chief Grants Officer concerning the City Bridge Trust’s Investing in Londoners Programme.

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items.

To agree the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 2 October 2014.

The confidential minutes of the meeting held on 2 October 2014 were approved.

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Committee considered and agreed a joint of the Town Clerk concerning a review undertaken as part of the Service Based Reviews.