Agenda item

Sustaining the growing business population

Oliver Lodge asked a question of the Chair of the Planning and Transportation Committee concerning the rapid expansion of the City’s business population and the measures the Corporation would be taking to prevent unsustainable growth.

Responding, the Chair referenced the Corporation’s Transport Strategy and the draft City Plan 2036, both of which aimed to ensure that the City of London remained a sustainable and attractive place to work, live and visit. The Chair agreed that forecasts predicted an increase in employment within the City over the coming years and explained that an office floorspace growth target of two million square metres had been set to accommodate these increasing numbers. The Chair stressed that it would be important to continue to protect and maintain an acceptable standard of working environment and sustainability in the City, but also not to impede the growing success of this area. She added that the changing circumstances within the City would be monitored and fed back into the planning policy review process and advised there would be multiple opportunities for consideration of employment projections, growth targets, land use, and numerous other policies appropriate to the City.

Oliver Lodge asked a supplementary question in which he highlighted the seemingly disparate policies across the City Corporation and asked for the development of a coherent, integrated and public strategy to ensure the City business population remained stable and well-managed in the future.

Responding, the Chair of Policy and Resources set out how the plans and policies being taken forward were combined and interlinked. She praised the pioneering steps and policies being developed and noted that the aforementioned Transport Strategy and City Plan contained significant plans within them to support a thriving population. The Chair added that the Planning and Transportation Committee would keep sight of this overall objective as they took the strategies forward.

Postcodes

John Fletcher asked a question of the Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee concerning the postcode of some residents within the Ward of Portsoken, who fell within the E1 area. He highlighted the disadvantages experienced by residents as a result and asked whether the City Corporation could engage with Royal Mail to amend this to an EC postcode to align with the rest of the City.

In response, the Chair of Policy and Resources explained that City Corporation had previously engaged with Royal Mail on this issue but that these efforts had been to no avail. During those discussions, it had been made clear that the Royal Mail’s robust policy was that they did not change postcodes unless there is a pressing operational reason to do so. However, the Chair noted that some 14 years had since passed since engaging with Royal Mail on this matter and she would ask officers to take up discussions once more to see what might be done. 

John Fletcher asked a supplementary question concerning the impact the E1 postcode had on policing responses and the confusion that often arose around 999 calls being passed to the Metropolitan Police, rather than the City Police. The Chair agreed to discuss this with the Chair of the Police Authority Board to see what could be done.