Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Karina Dostalova, Elizabeth Rogula, Ian Seaton, Deputy Dr. Giles Shilson, David Thompson and Mark Wheatley.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2016.

The public minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2016 were considered and approved as a correct record.

MATTERS ARISING

Frequency of Meetings and Terms of Reference (page 2) – In order to clarify a point raised at the last meeting the Town Clerk reported that, in Summer 2011, the Director’s responsibilities were widened and his title changed from Director of Markets to Director of Markets and Consumer Protection. In response to this, and a recommendation that relevant Committees look to see how they could encourage more ‘joined up work’, the Markets, Licensing and Port Health and Environmental Services Committees all agreed, in January 2013, that their terms of reference would be amended to state that the appointment of the Director would be made in consultation with each other.  At no stage was there any reference to any one of the three Committees taking precedence in terms of managing the appointment process.

A Member, also Deputy Chairman of the Establishment Committee, confirmed that, in cases where a Chief Officer reports to more than one Committee, the appointment panel would be chaired by the Chairman of the Establishment Committee in accordance with the Appointment of Chief Officer rules.

In response to questions, the Town Clerk confirmed that the Committee’s current terms of reference were correct and fit for purpose as they ensured that this Committee had a say in the appointment of any future Directors.

Smithfield Market Christmas Traffic Plan Review (page 4) – The Superintendent of Smithfield Market reported that he had spoken to the Indigo Car Park Manager who had confirmed that, when the car park was open free of charge, the barrier remained in the up position. The barrier was only closed when the car park started to fill up in order to maintain a flow of

Report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection.

The Committee received a report of the Director of Markets and Consumer Protection providing Members with assurance that risk management procedures in place within the Department of Markets and Consumer Protection are satisfactory and that they meet the requirements of the corporate Risk Management Framework.

The Chairman requested that any actions already completed be removed from the Risk Register and that, if an action was still ongoing, the dates assigned to these be revised so that no dates were in the past.

The Chairman went on to question why there was no comment provided against Action No. MCP-3M 003b (Repaint Road Markings). The Superintendent of Smithfield Market reported that the actions for this risk are owned by the Department for the Built Environment (DBE). The Superintendent has been liaising with DBE to progress these actions. Some improvements had been made recently and it was hoped that this work would be complete by December 2016.

A Member questioned why there were no actions assigned to Risk no. MCP-SM 002 (Cooling Towers) and how officers therefore expected to lower the risk in this area. Another Member questioned why there were two separate risks assigned to the cooling towers. The Head of Business Performance, Markets and Consumer Protection, reported that the second risk related to the chemical treatment of the water within the towers.

A Member questioned why, within the Summary of Key Risks, it stated that if risk MCP-SM 002 (Cooling Towers) were to be realised it would result in prosecution, a fine and reputational damage for the City as other risks stated only that this could be the case. The Director stated that he would prefer for the summary to be amended to could in line with the other risks.

In response to further questions, the Director reported that the

The Superintendents to be heard.

The Superintendents were heard relative to current issues at each of their sites.

Billingsgate

Car Parking

The Superintendent reported that in excess of £400k of income had been generated by the car park this financial year. He reported that a permit system was currently in place. Members were informed that car park users had previously been permitted to pay for parking via mobile phone but there had been some problems with this. Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology had recently been introduced to the site. This would allow officers to specifically target people with penalty charges.

Finally, the Superintendent confirmed that online renewals were to be introduced in the near future.

Early Trading

The Superintendent reported that this was a matter of concern to market tenants. Trading at the site commences at 4.00am, however, some were trading ahead of this. Members were informed that Tenants had called a meeting to rule that there should be no trading on site before 4.00am and had since issued a notice to all along these lines. They were therefore currently policing this matter amongst themselves.

Waste Dumping

The Superintendent reported that waste dumping, of polystyrene boxes and trays in particular, was an issue at the market. He reported that vehicle registration was being logged to monitor and tackle the problem and that Officers were hoping to hold a meeting with Tower Hamlet’s Environmental Health team in the near future to discuss how best to tackle this going forward.

Smithfield

Condenser Water System and Pumps

The Superintendent reported that this had been identified as one of the top three areas for him to manage and control following his appointment. He went on to report that he was currently working alongside colleagues in the City Surveyor’s to replace the pumps. Members were informed that this was the

Strategic Review of the Markets

A Member questioned when the Committee would receive a report and policy on, amongst other things, the possible relocation of some of the City’s Markets. He stated that he felt it was important to have a plan/policy in place before consulting on this and added that this was how other agencies tended to approach matters such as these.

The Chairman stated that he felt there was a danger in having any pre-conceived ideas before consultation.

A Member stated that it was good governance to consult on the matter first and to then look at all of the possible options and formulate a policy in principle before consulting further. He outlined that there were many stakeholders in the Markets and that it was correct that all should be consulted.

A Member stated that there would be some value in the Committee discussing the framework of options/parameters ahead of any initial consultation.

The Chairman went on to state that he felt it was inadvisable for individual Members to consult the media on these matters without speaking to the Director first.

Waste

A Member questioned whether there was a Committee policy on non-tenant waste at the Markets. The Director stated that this was actively discouraged at all sites, with individual Markets imposing charges on any individual found dumping waste. The Director pointed out that, were the City to allow non-tenants to bring their waste on to site, it would require a waste transfer licence to legally do so, but he confirmed that no written Committee  policy currently existed. Members were informed that some of the Markets conducted stop and searches on vehicles at the barriers to prevent those with waste entering the site.

The Chairman requested that a report on non-tenant waste and the extent of this problem

Billingsgate Fraud

The Director reported that a former Administrative Manager at Billingsgate Market had, this week, been found guilty at the Old Bailey on all 14 charges against him. He added that this was a satisfactory outcome from the City of London Corporation’s point of view. The individual concerned would now be sentenced at the end of April 2016.

Members were informed that a report on this matter had featured in yesterday’s Evening Standard. The City Corporation had also issued a strong statement on this regarding its ‘zero tolerance policy’ against fraud.

The Director went on to report that a number of staff and traders had been called to give evidence at the trial.

The Chairman, on behalf of the Committee, thanked all for their hard work in bringing this to a satisfactory conclusion.

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) 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.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100A(4) 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 Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act as follows:-

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 27 Janaury 2016.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2016 were considered and approved as a correct record.

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered and approved a report of the Chamberlain providing Members with an update on the progress and options for recovering the administrative cost of debt for both lease related and miscellaneous charges.

The City Surveyor to be heard.

The City Surveyor was heard relative to the Smithfield Market Condenser Water Cooling System.

Report of the Superintendent of Smithfield Market.

The Committee considered a report of the Superintendent of Smithfield Market regarding concessionary free parking in the Rotunda car park over the Easter period 2016.

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

The Committee considered and approved a late, separately circulated report of the City Surveyor regarding the Poultry Market - Asbestos Decontamination Waiver Approval and Stage 3 fee position.