Agenda item

Report of the Executive Director, Environment.

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Environment which provided an update on the design of Area B and sought approval to implement the scheme following the approval of the Gateway 4c-5 report for Area A approved in July 2022.

A Member raised concern that fewer trees were now proposed than previously. Although it was understood that this was due to services underground preventing trees from being planted, there had been a lack of expectation management which meant residents had been disappointed. The Member also stated there were ongoing concerns about the Clean Air Garden and stated the importance of the planning application being agreed with residents. She stated that investigation into the location of trees should have been undertaken earlier in the project with expectations managed from the outset. An Officer stated that the original scheme had been through the approvals process in 2011 before changes in project management were introduced. Groundwork surveys were now undertaken before any proposals were mapped out with ground radar surveys undertaken or trial holes dug, where appropriate. An Officer stated that there was now a more joined up approach with three departments having been brought together as one division. As much greening as possible was being undertaken with planters and other forms of greening.

A Member commented on it being difficult to put trees in the City of London with the rail network underneath and suggested that vertical greening could be used. The Chairman advised that this was a Planning matter.

In response to a Member’s question about the 2011 proposal including stakes in the ground with a framework on which plants could climb, an Officer stated that they would look into this.

RESOLVED - That Members of the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee:

1. Approve in principle the design as described in Section 4 and shown in Appendix 5 of the report;

2. Agree to delegate approval of the final elements of the design related to greening to the Director City Operations in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Streets and Walkways Sub-Committee once discussions with local residents had been concluded;

3. Authorise the transfer of any design & evaluation underspend for Moor Lane Section 106 budget from the previous gateway to the Area B (Section 106) implementation budget;

4. Approve a budget increase of £110,000 funded from the Climate Action Strategy Cool Streets programme. Allocation proposal was granted by Streets and Walkways Sub-committee on 15 February 2023 to support design and installation of climate resilience measures on Moor Lane;

5. Note the undertaking of a statutory consultation regarding the removal of the motorcycle bay in Moor Lane. The consideration of consultation responses, the decision as to whether to remove the motorcycle bay and the making of any resulting traffic order, was to be undertaken under the Executive Director’s delegated authority in respect of traffic order making processes (unless there are unresolved objection to any such order, in which case it would be brought back to the Sub-committee to decide whether or not to proceed with the order);

6. Note the investigation of loading restrictions along the west kerb on Moor Lane. The undertaking of any statutory consultation, the consideration of consultation responses, the decision as to whether to introduce loading restrictions and the making of any resulting traffic order, was to be undertaken under the Executive Director’s delegated authority in respect of traffic order making processes (unless there are unresolved objection to any such order, in which case it would be brought back to the Subcommittee to decide whether or not to proceed with the order);

7. Note the total budget for Area B to be £1,560,000 and approve allocation of the available funds as shown in the section 3 of the report and Table 2 in Appendix 3 of the report;

8. Approve the Risk Register in Appendix 2 of the report and approve the costed risk provision of £100,000; and delegate the drawdown of funds from the risk register to the Executive Director Environment;

9. Delegate to the Executive Director Environment authority to approve budget adjustments, above the existing authority within the project procedures and in consultation with Chamberlains between budget lines if this was within the approved total project budget amount and within intended scope.