In an attempt to keep Bishopsgate constituents updated on the work I am engaged in on your behalf, I thought it might be helpful to brief you on the decisions taken by the Court of Common Council at Guildhall today.
As some regular readers will be aware, the City of London Corporation has been drafting and consulting upon a new 5-year Corporate Plan and People Strategy over the past few months. This mammoth task has taken into account thousands of responses across the enormous number of services the City of London Corporation provides both in the UK and across the world. For the first time today, the Court was presented with a draft plan which covers 6 key areas: Dynamic Economic Growth, Diverse Engaged Communities, Flourishing Public Spaces, Vibrant Thriving Destination, Providing Excellent Services and Leading Environmental Sustainability. For the first time, it has also looked at success criteria and performance measures (KPIs and OKRs). You can read the report here. With the approval of the Court, this will now go back to the Policy and Resources Committee for a final review and sign-off. Each department within the Corporation will then have to review their existing business and management plans to ensure they are aligned to deliver against the new Corporate Plan.
As I have said previously, the City of London Corporation is probably in the most challenging financial climate it has ever been in before. It has significant capital expenditure programmes fully committing the Corporation’s resources for the next 15 years, which has been further challenged by Covid-19 recovery and inflationary pressures. Therefore, understanding what can realistically be achieved and how external opportunities can be explored to help close any further gaps is very important.
Another topic before the Court today is a matter we have been exploring carefully in the Children and Community Services Committee, which is around protections and support for social care leavers.
Evidence is very clear in that care leavers have much poorer outcomes in adult life than their peers – they are more likely to not find education, employment or training and to not find suitable accommodation . As a Member, I am considered a “corporate parent” and share a collective responsibility to ensure that care experienced children and young people get the support they need to live the happiest and healthiest lives possible. By definition, a care leaver is a young person aged between 18 and 25, who has been looked after (by the City) for more than 13 weeks after their 14th birthday, including some time after their 16th birthday. All of the City’s care leavers are entitled to support from the Children Social Care Service up to the age of 25 years.
The Court approved the proposal to recognise ‘care experienced’ as if it were a protected characteristic. In practice, this will allow the City Corporation to provide additional support to these individuals to improve their life chances and better track the impact of this investment. We must continue to do what we can to drive forward social mobility.
The final big topic before the Court today was a proposal to create a new Conservation Area at Creechurch, near Aldgate. The proposed boundary map is available here. This follows significant public consultation from the Planning and Transportation Committee. Some concerns were raised about Bevis Marks Synagogue, as the UK oldest synagogue in continuous use, but suitable assurances were given and the proposal was approved.
You can find the full list of public papers for the Court here.