Agenda and draft minutes

The Town Clerk informed Members and any members of the public who are observing s the meeting on-line, that following an urgent decision taken by the Court of Common Council the previous evening, the meeting would now be informal. Any views reached by the Committee would have to be considered by the Town Clerk after the meeting in accordance with the Court of Common Council’s Covid Approval Procedure who would make a formal decision having considered all relevant matters. This process reflected the current position in respect of the holding of formal Local Authority meetings and the Court of Common Council’s decision of 16 December 2021 to recommence hybrid meetings and take formal decisions through a delegation to the Town Clerk and other officers nominated by him after the informal meeting has taken place and the will of the Committee is known in open session. Details of all decisions taken under the Covid Approval Procedure will be available on line via the City Corporation’s webpages.

Apologies were received from Alderman Sir David Wootton, Shravan Joshi and Deputy James Thomson.

Both Sheriff Nicholas Lyons and Christopher Hayward declared a non-pecuniary intereste at item 5 on the agenda. Both Members were patrons of the Temple Bar Trust and would consequently not speak to that particular application.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the Sub-Committee meeting held on 19 November 2021.

RESOLVED, that the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 19 November 2021, be approved.

Report of the Chamberlain.

Members considered a report of the Chamberlain regarding the Capital Funding update. The following matters were raised:

RESOLVED, that Members

i)              Agree to apply the ‘one-in, one-out’ approach to reallocate £229k from the central reserves of City Fund and City’s Cash from the savings on the Energy Reduction Programme to provide top-up funding for the BEMS Phase 1 scheme.

ii)             Note the net savings of £246k on the Energy Reduction Programme Phase 1 as summarised in Table 1, of which £209k relates to City’s Cash.

iii)           Have reviewed the schemes summarised in Table 2 and, particularly in the context of the current financial climate, and confirm their continued essential priority for release of funding at this time; and accordingly

iv)           Agree the release of up to £518k for the schemes in Table 2 from the reserves of City Fund and City’s Cash as appropriate, subject to the required gateway approvals.

v)            Note that in order to maintain sound financial discipline a review of unallocated central project funding provisions will be brought to Members following discussions taking place at the bi-lateral meetings.

Report of the Managing Director of the Bridge House Estate and Chief Charities Officer.

Members considered a report of the Managing Director of the Bridge House Estate and Chief Charities Officer regarding Community Infrastructure Levy Neighbourhood Fund – Applications for Approval.

RESOLVED, that Members

i)     Approve the grant recommended to ‘The World Reimagined Limited’ at a meeting of the CILNF Officer Panel in October 2021 (Appendix 1)

ii)    Approve the grant recommended to ‘Temple Bar Trust’ at a meeting of the CILNF Officer Panel in October 2021 (Appendix 1).

iii)   Note the current position of the CILNF with respect to funds available and upcoming reporting.

There were no questions.

There was one item of urgent business.

Joint report of the City Surveyor and Director of Environment.

Members considered a Joint report of the City Surveyor and Director of Environment regarding the Walbrook Wharf feasibility study – 2027 & beyond.

The request at this stage was for a discrete amount of funding to be made available for the feasibility study. Subsequent to the completion of these works, further approvals would be sought as per the projects gateway approvals procedure.

It was noted that as a 1960s build, irrespective of the integrated freight proposals, there would be significant ongoing maintenance and repair works needed.

The Chair requested that officers tie in these proposals with the thinking on use of the River for freight more generally, including Markets Consolidation programme.

RESOLVED, that Members approve the fund request of £150,000 to support the initial stage of the Walbrook Wharf feasibility project and allocate to the green list of recommended projects.

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 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Part 2 – Non-Public Agenda

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 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the Sub-Committee meeting held on 19 November 2021.

RESOLVED, that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2021, be approved as an accurate record.

Joint report of The Chamberlain and City Surveyor.

Members considered a joint report of the Chamberlain and City Surveyor regarding the City of London operational tenants – arrears update and rental support.

There was one question.

There was no other business.