Agenda item

Executive Director, Community and Children’s Services to be heard in respect of the following:

The Town Clerk had circulated the following updates and Members would receive a further update at the September meeting Committee, ahead of a full progress report to the Ward of Portsoken.

1.         The Ward of Portsoken requests the relevant department of the City of London Corporation to consider improvements to the look and feel of the current public entrance (former rear entrance) to Petticoat Tower, following the removal of the former main entrance as a result of a housing infill project.

The City Corporation’s Environment Team have undertaken a two-phase refurbishment project of improvements to the Artizan Street elevation of the Middlesex Street Estate, following the removal of the ramp leading to the first-floor car park. The first phase of this project, completed a few years ago,  provided an enhanced landscaping scheme.

The second phase includes:

•           The installation of a new bespoke canopy over the residents’ entrance to Petticoat Tower.

•           Provision of signage (including estate and library signage).

•           Options for covering the existing unsightly panels on the first floor (including additional signs or decorative panels).

•           Options for artwork, interpretation panels or further signage at street level adjacent to the walkway alongside the hotel on Artizan Street.

Unfortunately, the second phase of the project was delayed due to the pandemic and planning, design and resourcing issues. The Housing Major Works Team will be taking over this project, with an estimated completion date of March 2024. It should be noted, however, that the design proposals for the relocation of the City of London Police’s Eastern Base, to surplus space in the Middlesex Street Estate, will  include the construction of two projecting ‘feature boxes’ on the Artizan Street façade.  This will significantly enhance the look and feel of the façade, as well as covering the unsightly and unfinished cut ends from the previously removed ramp to the first floor car park.

2.         The Ward of Portsoken request an update from the relevant department of the City of London Corporation on the status of the 2014 project to install power assisted doors in Gravel Lane and on the Podium level of the Middlesex Street Estate

In October 2014, residents of the Middlesex Street Estate were advised that the Corporation would be installing two additional power-assisted doors on the Estate. The first door would have been located at the Gravel Lane entrance and the second, at podium level, would have lead to Petticoat Tower.   Following site surveys, the project was subsequently aborted due to major structural issues.  Regrettably, residents were not formally notified of this decision.  

However, the City Corporation has recently completed an independent access audit on the public areas of its 12 social housing estates.   The access audit identified several estates, including the Middlesex Street Estate, where communal entrance doors and internal communal doors require replacement/adjustment to make them more accessible to residents and visitors.

Officers are revisiting the proposal to install the additional power-assisted doors on the Middlesex Street Estate, in order to understand the structural problems and how they can be overcome. If possible, the project will be completed, within the existing local risk budget, by the end of this financial year.  

3.         The Ward of Portsoken request the relevant department and/or Committee of the City of London Corporation provide assurance that staff have appropriate training to take into account any specific needs of residents with protected characteristics who seek to engage with City of London Corporation services.

The City of London Corporation aspires to be a leader in equality and inclusion in serving its wide range of communities, staff, residents, businesses, and the workforce in the Square Mile.  Equality and inclusion training, including transgender awareness and unconscious bias. are mandatory for all staff in the City Corporation. Analysis is undertaken by Adults, Children’s and Education Services to ensure there is no disproportionality in terms of service delivery.

The Public Sector Equality Duty requires the City Corporation to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to foster good relations and advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.  To support staff in fulfilling this duty, training is provided in undertaking an Equality Analysis; i.e. - a risk assessment tool which examines whether different groups of people are, or could be, disadvantaged by policy and decision making within an organisation.

The City Corporation also supports seven Staff Diversity Networks. The aim of these networks is to provide an inclusive, safe and confidential forum for employees to network and support each other, share ideas and best practice, and to help the City Corporation to better understand the people who work for it and the communities and businesses in the Square Mile.