Agenda item

Cost of the Tulip Inquiry

A Member noted that she had questioned the costs of the inquiry to the City Corporation at the end of last year and requested a response to this from the Chief Planning Officer. The Chief Planning Officer stated that, as the Committee would recall, on 2 April 2019, Members voted 18 to 6 in favour of granting The Tulip planning application. However, the Mayor of London then directed the City to refuse this. On 18 February 2020, this Committee were advised by Officers that the estimated cost to the City in contesting the public inquiry would be upwards of £200,000. The Chief Planning Officer went on to confirm that the cost was actually significantly below this at £158,000 with savings achieved as the result of very competitive legal fees but, critically, as a lot of the work on design and heritage which were both key issues had been undertaken in-house by himself and other colleagues in addition to their normal duties.

Built Environment Users Panel

A Member noted that she had questioned the composition and the objectives of the Built Environment User Panel at the last meeting of this Committee and had also asked if there were any other similar groups that the Committee should be aware of. She remarked that she was yet to receive a response to either of these points. The Chief Planning Office apologised for this oversight and undertook to assemble the relevant information and respond directly to the Member as soon as possible.

Public Conveniences

A Member reported that the number of public conveniences had fallen by 20% in the last six years across councils and questioned the City’s position on this. She added that she was very conscious that many residents were seeing issues with urination. Officers reported that this matter was within the remit of the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee and that this question would therefore be directed to relevant Officers here with a request that they respond to the Member directly.