Agenda item

A Member sought clarification on whether the City of London planning team had involved the Committee in a decision to remove public access to a roof terrace on a new development at Newgate Street that would give the public striking views of St Paul’s Cathedral.  

A Member asked whether the Committee has any interest in improving and maintaining access to culture centres noting that a recent development at Moorgate promised escalators and lifts to the Barbican Podium Highwalk, but that these do not work at the weekend sending out negative messages.

The Committee noted that the Committee has not been involved in either of these decisions.

A Member sought clarification on the degree to which the CoL executive had the latitude to vary decisions after they had been made, noting that that appeared to be a factor. The meeting heard that the issue had been discussed at the Policy & Resources Committee earlier the same day, and that Officers are empowered to take decisions in line with the scheme of delegation set by the Court of Common Council in which the relevant thresholds were set out to determine the level of Member involvement in decisions. Members were directed to the YouTube recording of that meeting (the discussion being at the 1h:28m mark).

In response to a question on whether a request could be made to amend the scheme of delegation to ensure CHL has oversight of any decision that impacts on cultural assets, the meeting noted that recommendations were being made ahead of likely revisions to the relevant scheme of delegation, to which Members would be able to contribute upon the submission of the proposed  scheme of delegation submitted to the Court of Common Council.