Agenda item

The Director of Built Environment and the Policy and Performance Director to be heard.

The Sub-Committee received an oral presentation from the Policy & Performance Director of the Department of the Built Environment. The presentation outlined how the Department of the Built Environment (DBE) was leading on measures to facilitate the rollout on an improved digital infrastructure in the City of London.  It also provided several examples of how DBE was improving its services by making greater use of digital technology.  These included a new digital internet service for Local Land Charges; digitising and publishing highway projection licences; street light upgrading and its scope for smart monitoring; the planned upgrade of development monitoring data capture and publication; increased use of digital modelling to understand the impact of proposed new development; and software upgrades to support ongoing service improvement. 

The Sub-Committee was further informed that the City of London had extended its GIS software licence and the Department was continuing to maximise data usage.

In response to a query about street lighting, Members were advised that the City Corporation largely avoided the use of conventional pole mounted streetlights in order to reduce congestion on pavements. Consequently, the street lighting network was largely based on the lighting being attached to buildings.

With regards to engagement with City business, the Sub-Committee was informed that this aspect was led by the Business Broadband Team (DBE), which ensured that the right services and access to technologies were provided to City-based businesses.

In response to a query about management and use of digital data, the Policy & Performance Director assured the Sub-Committee that high standards of data management were maintained and, as a Local Authority, much of the data was available to the public.

A Member queried whether the use of the data was compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  The Policy & Performance Director responded that the data concerned environmental matters and did not include personal information. With regards to use of street data, Members were advised that the City Corporation was not using facial recognition technologies at present but a Police Board Working Group was looking into this aspect and a full report on this matter would be submitted to the Sub-Committee in due course..

RESOLVED – That the Sub-Committee note the presentation.