Agenda item

Market Superintendent updates

Billingsgate - The Market Superintendent advised that

·     Some tenants felt that Members were unaware of the challenges presented by the capacity and ageing infrastructure. Tenants had been assured that this was a key n consideration in proposals to co-locate the markets.  Members were alerted to the likelihood that these concerns would be raised by tenants at the forthcoming Markets Committee visit on 30^th August 2019.

·     Since the last meeting, Billingsgate had hosted separate visits by the Lord Mayor on 5^th July and the Chief Commoner on 12^th July.

·     The Superintendent was working closely with industry authority Seafish and the Billingsgate Seafood Training School to promote Seafood Week from 4^th – 11^th October 2019.

New Spitalfields - The Market Superintendent advised that

·     Entry barrier works were in the final phase and it was anticipated that system test would take place two weeks hence.

·     The CCTV contract had been awarded to Clearview communications limited and the number of cameras would be increased from 86 cameras to 146. The procurement exercise had been very successful and the final contract price was lower than indicated by the soft market test.

·     A Customer Service questionnaire had yielded positive feedback although the response rate was low.  A follow up survey would be carried out in 12 months in the hope that the response rate would increase.

·       The Coroner pre-inquest review regarding the Fatality on site would be held on 18^th July 2019 and the HSE had made observations in respect risks associated with the hoops of the cargo stay being used as a means of assisting in climbing up the rear of the load. The HSE would, in any case, warn against the use of Cargo Stays being as a means of climbing the side of a load.  Officers would work jointly with SpMTA to disseminate this information to freight companies.

Smithfield – The Market Superintendent advised that

·         The annual Smithfield Market Street Party would be held on Sunday 25th August 2019 and further details would be circulated to Members in due course

New policy for commercial filming

Officers reported that the Communications Team was in the process of reviewing the Corporation of London Filming Policy and also how income from filming was shared/spent across the corporation.  A report on this matter had been considered by the Policy & Resources Committee on 4^th July 2019. The Committee agreed that in consultation with the Committee Chairman, Officers should provide feedback to the Communications Team on the impact of the new policy and any recommendations deemed appropriate.

Markets Energy Prices

Arising from concerns raised by tenants during the Committee’s visit to New Spitalfields Market on 15^th July, Officers had produced a briefing note to explain the reasons some Market tenants had experienced significant increases in energy costs.

In response to questions and comments from Members, Officers stated that year on year increases in energy costs were unavoidable and the energy broker and the City of London Corporation were exposed to the volatile market conditions when buying energy.  However, going forward, the impact of price volatility would be mitigated by advance purchasing.  The City of London Corporation was in the process of tendering for a power purchase agreement to fix energy commodity prices with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) as indexation. This would result in greater certainty and increased pricing stability in purchasing energy at the most advantageous market rates.

Officers accepted the Committee’s concerns at the impact of the escalating energy costs on tenants and also the accountability for previous purchasing decisions.  Officers also highlighted that they were exploring the terms of current leases to see whether there were limits on how much tenants could be charged for energy costs.

Officers assured Members that discussions were ongoing between Markets & Consumer Protection and Energy Efficiency Officers to review the circumstances leading to the fluctuating energy prices and assess scope for altering the current Purchasing Strategy to secure the most economically advantageous energy prices and create price stability.

The Committee noted the briefing and agreed that officers should provide a further update report to the Committee’s next meeting.