Agenda item

To consider Resolutions from the Wards of Aldersgate, Bishopsgate, Cripplegate and Dowgate.

Members received the resolutions from the Annual Wardmotes of Wards of Aldersgate, Bishopsgate, Cripplegate and Dowgate concerning Ward newsletters and the Speak for the City Campaign.

The Chairman asked officers to provide a response to the resolutions. Beginning with those resolutions on the topic of ward newsletters, officers acknowledged the importance of regular communication with City residents and workers and provided an update on the work done in this area, including on the City Belonging Project, the quarterly ‘City Living’ newsletter for residents and the inclusion of ward-based communications in the City Corporation’s new Corporate CRM. Officers undertook to return with a full report on the subject of reintroducing Ward newsletters.

With regards to the resolutions on the election engagement campaign, officers said that this had been run on similar lines to that before the 2022 election. The 2025-2026 Ward List had received its highest level. There had been no change in the number of candidates standing, though the number of contested Wards was fewer than in 2022. Officers would be bringing a report back to the Committee following a full and formal evaluation of the campaign.

The Chairman noted that there would be a number of views on these topics but said that to enable a more informed debate, he would wait until the mentioned reports were on the agenda; he suggested that the report on Ward Newsletters should first be referred to the Communications and Corporate Affairs Sub-Committee, with any recommendations from that body returning to the parent Committee. The report on the election engagement campaign would be presented directly to the Policy & Resources Committee.

In reply to a question from a Member, the Deputy Town Clerk set out the processes by which the Committee’s deliberations on the Wardmote resolutions could be reported back to the Wards.