Back in 2013, the Broad Street team – Deputy John Bennett, John Scott, Christopher Hayward, and Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, all ran for office.  We made pledges for our roles as Common Councilmen and Alderman in 2013.  We thought our electorate deserves a brief update at the halfway mark in 2015.

The team have been active at three levels.  First, providing our ward with the public services it needs to thrive.  Most of the activity has been overseeing the development of new business infrastructure, for example:

• Crossrail development at Liverpool Street, due for completion in 2017 and bringing Heathrow within 35 minutes of our ward;
• Redevelopment of Austin Friars, begun and finished in 2015, providing a lovely new heart to Broad Street Ward, as well an upgrade to Telegraph Street’s paving and amenities;
• Redevelopment at Angel Court, Angel Court, a new
  300,000 sq ft office building and 16,000 sq ft restaurant accommodation space;
• Highspeed broadband, where we have worked with suppliers and introduced more competition in providing businesses with the ICT infrastructure they need;
• Support for new businesses and SMEs, particularly in areas such as media, fintech, music, and trade, to ensure that we have a thriving business community in the future.

At the same time, we have dealt with a number of  public space issues, such as noise, litter, graffitti, bicycle racks, deliveries, late night drinking, public path blockages, and shredder vans.  Following representations to us from concerned residents at 7 Lothbury we made strong representations at Guildhall concerning night time noise and disruption and parking breaches.   As a result we got agreement for permanent ‘no parking’ to be introduced outside this building and we will continue to make further representations if residents are still concerned.  On shredder vans we have begun a campaign to reduce Imported Particulate Pollution Factory usage City-wide, hopefully leading to all City shredding being done off-site in a much more environmentally friendly way.

Second, providing governance of the City.  All four members have a number of governance roles on key City committees, City charities, and City institutions.  Our role is to ensure that City assets and taxes are wisely controlled and spent for the benefit of our community.  Equally, we engage with Central Government to ensure proper support, including regular engagement with HM Treasury, BIS, UK Trade & Investment, Home Office, Ministry of Justice, and others.  We have instituted “Ward Mights” to stand alongside “Ward Motes”.  We held a Ward Might in 2014 in Furniture Makers and another in 2015, kindly hosted as a Drapers dinner.

Third, promoting the City commercial community.  Over the past two years, your members have co-hosted national business delegations to the City of London from Ireland, China, Singapore, South Korea, and Mexico.  Your members have personally hosted business delegations from Busan, Shanghai, Beijing, Dublin, Seoul, Moscow, Tonga, The Bahamas, Barbados, Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey, the Netherlands, the Isle of Man, and Shenzhen, encouraging them to develop stronger links, locations, and employment in the City.  During 2014 and 2015, Deputy John Bennett served as Chief Commoner, the most senior position in the Court of Common Council, constantly representing the City to the national and international communities.

As we look forward to the 2017 campaign when we will seek your vote for re-election as a combined team, we hope to make yet more progress in five areas:

• safe streets – traditional policing, crime prevention, refuse collection, lighting, sensible licensing and traffic enforcement;
• modern infrastructure – water, electricity, ICT, and transportation links with robust defences against environmental damage and terrorism;
• vibrant economy – fostering new and old businesses by setting policy and regulation that encourage new markets in the City and future success for the 350,000 of us already working here;
• community spirit – ensuring excellent services for those in need while enhancing intellectual and cultural life;
• competitive attractiveness – lobbying central government on better policies for education, taxation and business, as well as promotion, to keep the City foremost in global finance, technology and media.

Our thanks to the residents and workers of Broad Street Ward for their continuing support!