Petition to the Court of Common Council, City of London Corporation

Sponsors

This petition is sponsored by: The Barbican Association, Golden Lane Estate Residents’ Association, Councillors Mark Bostock, Marianne Fredericks, Graeme Harrower and Sue Pearson, and Resident Heather Thomas.

Closing the Petition: October 2022

The sponsors would like to thank all those who signed this petition.  It played a vital role in achieving the first objective, namely for the Corporation to abandon proposals to form panels of the Planning and Transportation Committee to make decisions.  Attempts by the Corporation to dilute further the residential voice in determining planning applications may, though, continue by other means, such as by amending its Planning Protocol which governs the procedure for considering applications.  With respect to the other two objectives, concerning systemic conflicts of interest inherent in the planning and other Corporation processes, they will not be addressed unless and until the Corporation is radically reformed, including by abolishing the undemocratic business vote.

The current focus of Barbican residents and heritage organisations is on the proposed redevelopment of the Museum of London site, known as London Wall West, where the Corporation proposes a massive, office-led development adjacent to the Barbican Estate (see: https://www.londonstartshere.co.uk  The Barbican Association asks you please to support its resistance to these proposals.

The Petition

We, the undersigned:

declare that we have no confidence in the City of London Corporation’s current planning process and

petition the Court of Common Council to:

1.      reject a proposal that planning applications be decided by panels of the Planning and Transportation Committee instead of by the whole Committee to avoid eroding democratic accountability;

2.       prevent those councillors who are members of committees responsible for the Corporation’s extensive property interests from also being members of the Planning and Transportation Committee, to avoid conflicts of interest; and

3.      prevent those councillors who have professional associations within the property development industry from also being members of the Planning and Transportation Committee, to avoid a perception of bias.

Background

Democratic accountability is already weak within the Corporation because a majority of councillors are (uniquely) elected by small numbers of voters appointed by businesses, only a quarter of which register to vote.  As a consequence of this business vote, the Planning and Transportation Committee generally ignores reasonable objections made on planning grounds, especially by residents and heritage bodies, and approves ever taller buildings which blight neighbouring properties and degrade heritage assets.  Allocating decisions to panels will exacerbate this existing problem. 

Recent examples of bad planning decisions include:

• 150 Aldersgate Street (opposite the Grade II listed Barbican Estate).  Plans were approved to refurbish the existing office building making it taller, thereby reducing the daylight to the surrounding homes and businesses, and overshadowing the Smithfield Conservation Area. The Corporation had an undisclosed interest in this application as the freeholder of the property. It benefited financially from the approval, which would not have been granted but for the votes of five councillors on the Planning and Transportation Committee who also sat on a committee which manages the Corporation’s property interests, including this property.   The debate was prematurely terminated on a motion by one of these councillors.
• The Denizen.  The Corporation sold a building formerly used for police accommodation on this site to a developer, which demolished it and built this large block of luxury flats. The block has caused a severe loss of light to a number of homes in Grade II listed Golden Lane Estate.
• 55 Gracechurch Street   Approval was recently granted for this 29 storey office block outside the approved “eastern cluster”, which will harm views of Tower Bridge and the Monument, both Grade I.
• 70 Gracechurch Street    Approval was recently granted for this 33 storey office block, which will literally overshadow the roof of Grade II* listed Leadenhall Market. 

Transparency International published recommendations in February 2021 for improvements in the Corporation’s planning process, which the Corporation is refusing even to consider.

Future developments could include Bastion House on London Wall and the Museum of London site, both abutting the Barbican Estate in the West of the City, and two developments in the East of the City which will both affect the Grade I listed Bevis Marks synagogue.