Agenda item

To receive the report of the Executive Director, Innovation & Growth and the Interim Executive Director, Environment.

The Committee noted the report of the Executive Director, Innovation & Growth, and the Interim Executive Director, Environment. 

The Committee noted that the Cultural Planning Framework (CPF) is a tool being developed as a cross-departmental project to enable the City Corporation to use its planning system to better orchestrate how culture is delivered across the Square Mile by developers of major schemes, creating an evidence base and set of recommendations to underpin the production of new planning guidance for culture that can be introduced to complement the City Plan 2040, and which has the potential to contribute data and content towards any future cultural strategy that the City Corporation may produce in the future. Members commented on the urgency of establishing a clear vision and strategy to utilise those tools, noting that paragraph 9 states that the CPF “is not of itself a cultural strategy”.

Members commented on the importance of encompassing a sports and learning provision into the CPF and overarching strategy.

In response to a question on the nature of the Committee’s involvement in the development of the CPF (and a request for ongoing transparency), the meeting heard that a more advanced CPF would be brought to the Committee (and other Committees) to help shape the CPF that will later be brought to wider public consultation, noting also that the Committee would be kept updated on the consultancy process.

A Member sought clarification that the cultural element of the CPF would be properly embedded within the Planning remit. The meeting noted that the planning system could not be utilised to secure a specific end-user operator for any cultural offering as such a move would generate legal obligations on a land developer, but that spaces would be secured for cultural offerings. Members heard that developers were being encouraged to give input at an early stage on potential occupiers of cultural spaces.     

On paragraph 8 of the report, a Member commented that the Committee had not been consulted on the appointment of Publica Associates Ltd and TJ Culture Ltd. The meeting noted that the Committee would be involved in relevant commissions. 

Members noted that the first line of paragraph 13 should read “spring 2024” not “spring 2023”.