Agenda item

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 7 October 2013.

RESOLVED: that the minutes and public summary of the meeting held on 7 October 2013 be approved as a correct record, subject to the Observers being listed as present.

Matters Arising

The Value of Green Spaces to London and Londoners

The Director of Open Spaces noted that the report on The Value of Green Spaces to London and Londoners was submitted to the Health and Wellbeing Board on 6 November, and that its potential to form part of a PhD thesis continued to be explored.

Planning Commitments for Open Spaces

In response to a suggestion from a member that a record of how much staff time was currently absorbed by dealing with planning applications affecting City of London Open Spaces, the Director noted that the £25,000 allocated to dealing with planning commitments in Open Spaces was to pay for formal advice only and did not take officer-time into account.

The Chairman concurred with the Director and noted that when he had first discussed this issue with the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee it had been agreed that the additional money was needed to primarily cater for external planning advice in order to reduce the burden on City of London staff. Nevertheless he noted that it would be desirable to secure continued funding for this issue and so detailed information on the impact planning commitments were having on City of London staff, and detail on how the current £25,000 was spent would help build a case for this continued funding.