Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Susan Pearson declared an interest in this matter and informed the Committee that she would not speak or vote on this item having not applied for the relevant dispensation.

Members considered a report of the Director of Community and Children’s Service in respect of the consultation schedule for the City of London Primary Academy Islington.

The Assistant Director explained to Members that the report included the list of conditions that had come to them as a result of their planning application. He explained that residents would not be denied an opportunity to comment on the items marked as “accepted” or as “consultation not necessary” in appendix 1, the proposed consultation schedule, but there were other areas that did need a more in-depth approach. On this basis a consultation schedule had been agreed to reasonably reflect what had been asked for by residents and planning. This schedule had been published prior to the meeting and features monthly drop-in meetings and quarterly “public” focussed consultation meetings.

[Marianne Fredricks joined the meeting at 11.59]

A Member thanked officers for taking the initiative on areas where there needed to be consultation and for considering how they were going to fulfil these conditions. It was suggested that residents who were more directly affected should get greater representation than those who lived further away from the site. It was also requested that future consultation meetings be distinct from the construction progress updates. Some Members felt that residents would prefer a more regular public consultation meeting, proposing that meetings should be held monthly and alternate between public consultation and drop-in sessions. Points were made regarding the advantages of the different formats of meeting, including whether drop-ins gave value for officer time, the ability for residents to feel heard amongst other strong voices in public meetings, and how in all forms, these meetings could be intimidating. The Assistant Director felt that the current proposal was fair but agreed to review the balance between the two formats of meetings at the end of the quarter. Dates of consolations for the proceeding months may need to be published before this review was due to take place, however, it was agreed that the nature of the meetings could remain flexible until after the Committee had reviewed their effectiveness. It was confirmed that future consultation meetings would be separate to the construction progress updates.

A specific concern was raised at the drop-in session held on 21 March 2019 with regard to the waste collection proposals for Baltic Street West. A meeting of officers had been organised to discuss the alternatives and to address why the most reasonable option was not the option proposed at Planning stage. An update would be provided at the next meeting.

Members were assured that, if changing the testing parameters for certain planning conditions, residents would still be consulted even if not necessary. This was also true of any other material changes that would have an impact on residents but not on planning conditions. All information would be made available for residents for comment, regardless of whether consultation was obligatory.

Following questions from the Committee, Members heard that there was a dedicated website for the project, on which residents could see what consultation was happening and when. The website also allowed questions to be submitted virtually, these questions were reviewed on a weekly basis and are responded to in a timely manner depending on their complexity. A record of questions raised at the drop-in sessions was drawn up and circulated in bulletins, on the website and elsewhere.

RESOLVED, that –

·         The report be noted;

·         The proposed Consultation Schedule relating to the discharge of the remaining planning conditions for the COLPAI development, be approved; and

·         That the Consultation Schedule be reviewed at the Sub-Committee’s July 2019 meeting.