Good business can only succeed in healthy, vibrant societies, which is why it is so important to promote and reflect on the volume and breadth of the community work that the City and UK business does.
City Giving Day is an annual event that unites the City through its charity and community partnerships. It gives business the opportunity to promote and celebrate the good work that they do. This year it is Tuesday, 26 September.
If you are interested in finding out more about City Giving Day and increasing corporate engagement, please join us at an information breakfast at Mansion House, hosted by the Lord Mayor on Tuesday, 13 June (rsvp to cgd@thelordmayorsappeal.org) or visit the City Giving Day website.
Given the importance and high profile of the Bank junction scheme we thought that you would appreciate an update on progress and the timing of the introduction of the experimental scheme.
The ‘Bank on Safety’ experimental scheme will be launched on Monday 22 May. Between the hours of 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, Bank junction will be a pedestrian, bus and cycle only junction in a bid to significantly reduce casualties. This date will start to be communicated from today, Monday 24 April.
A report will be given in early July focusing on:
operational matters of the experiment to date, such as any proposed changes to the scheme
observations of how the experiment is working from a traffic perspective
data on the number of vehicles entering the City over the duration of the first couple of weeks
preliminary bus journey times on key corridors ( Cannon Street, Bishopsgate, London Wall, St Martin Le Grand/New Change).
The bus journey time data will be used as a proxy for general traffic journey times on the same corridors.
The data will be from the first couple of weeks of operation when new vehicle movement patterns will not have fully settled down. The data is provided to assist with informing the observational comments.
If you would like details of the longer term proposed monitoring strategy please get in touch.
Part of the monitoring strategy covers perception and whether the experiment makes a perceived difference. From today the below online survey opens. It will close on Sunday 21 May. The survey is open to anyone that passes through Bank and can be accessed via the website www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/bankonsafety
The full public consultation phase for the experiment will open officially on 22 May, but will not be promoted actively for the first few weeks while the scheme settles. It is intended that following the verbal report, the consultation will be promoted more actively and have regular ‘revivals’ to capture as many individual responses as possible. It is planned to close the consultation at the end of November 2017.
If you’d like to contact officers about the sheme you are more than welcome to do so direct via bankarea@cityoflondon.gov.uk or 020 7332 3839
We hope that you find this update helpful. Please do share it with colleagues, friends and family who use the junction.
The Active City Network is gearing up for a busy season for walking and cycling. We are promoting the City’s Quietways which provide a safer, less polluted route for walking and cycling with led rides, music and speeches; the Best Practice Guide will be released at the Healthy City Streets event on 5 June and there are a range of other events we hope you can attend. All the details are below, we hope to see you this Spring!
Tomorrow 20 April: Freight in Centre Stage!
The City Corporation is hosting a free afternoon conference, between 3.30 – 5.30 pm, followed by drinks reception, tomorrow the 20 April 2017 at Grocers’ Hall. The event will highlight the exciting opportunities for City firms arising from the City’s Freight Strategy programme. The conference will provide a forum to engage with the City’s facilities management experts so that best practice in freight and servicing management is shared and embedded. Few spaces left – please RSVP
Join representatives from TFL, DHL, Doddle and more to discuss strategies, improve your deliveries and make consolidations work for you!
The lunchtime e-rides along the Quietways in March were very well received! Don’t worry if you missed it – you have the chance to attend the evening ride on the 25 April. The tour gives you the opportunity to experience both the Quietways and riding an e-bike! You can ride an e-bike in normal clothes and effortlessly experience the fascinating historical and cultural sites along the ride. Spaces are limited!
“Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the ebike ride on Wednesday! Can I come along to the 25 April as well please?”
May is Living Streets’ National Walking Month! City of London Corporation’s Business Healthy, national walking charity Living Streets and online wellbeing engagement platform HiMOTIV, are launching the Business Healthy Challenge! Team registrations are live! So to register your team and find out more, on the “Events” page atwww.businesshealthy.org
Get moving to win big this National Walking Month, with the Business Healthy Challenge
The Active City Network and the City of London Corporation would like to welcome you to an afternoon of music, rides and walks along the Quietways, followed by an evening conference and drinks reception to be held at Guildhall.Find out more
There are a variety or rides for all levels at the Rapha Nocturne London cycling event on 10 June, however, City firms will have a unique opportunity to battle it out to claim the glory of the fastest business in the Square Mile. Teams of 4 will race in front of thousands around a spectacular City circuit starting and finishing along Cheapside.Interested?For full details and how to enter please click here.
Get your chance to race in front of thousands around a spectacular City circuit.
Following the Broad Street Ward Mote on Wednesday, 22 March, at Carpenters’ Hall, the existing civic team will continue to serve you and the City for the next four years.
We would like to express our thanks to all of those voters in the Ward who have supported us in the past, yet also a particularly warm welcome for new voters in the Ward.
With the next elections not until 2021 we are conscious that it is all too easy to lose touch and enthusiasm during this time. The Broad Street Ward Club welcomes new members and, with a regular series of events, is an accessible way of networking with colleagues in the Ward, as well as staying in touch with the civic team. You will find an application form on their website and we would be pleased to sponsor your application.
The absence of a contested election makes us all the more determined to fulfil your confidence in us by representing your interests to the best of our ability, both in the Ward and in the wider City. All three of us, with the support of Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, will continue to have leading roles in Corporation committees during the coming year which gives us a very real influence on policy issues and helps to ensure that Broad Street remains at the heart of the City.
The City of London Corporation has granted approval for an experimental safety scheme for Bank junction called Bank on Safety. The scheme is aimed at improving the safety of pedestrians and road users at one of the worst collision hotspots in the City of London.
It is planned that only pedal cyclists and buses will be permitted to cross Bank Junction, Monday to Friday, between the hours of 7am to 7pm. The experiment will last up to 18 months and will not begin until work on Cannon Street is completed, which is expected to finish at the end of April.
The primary objective is to achieve a 50-60% reduction in casualties in the Bank area, 75% which occur Monday – Friday from 7am to 7pm. We are also expecting to see improvements in air quality at the junction and reduced journey times for bus passengers on a number of routes. Pedestrians dominate this area during the working day and yet are given the least priority in time and space. The second most dominant mode is pedal cyclists, who in the peak periods account for around 50% of the vehicles crossing the junction.
The City has worked closely with Transport for London to ensure that the surrounding streets are not adversely impacted by the experiment. Traffic signals will be modified to regulate the overall network when the scheme goes live. Our expectation is that average vehicle journey times in the vicinity will be maintained, possibly improved. During restricted times, vehicles will still be able to pick up and drop off passengers near the junction, just as they do at the moment with the existing barriers, such as the guard railing. To mitigate the impact on taxis, new taxi ranks and an extension of existing taxi ranks will be provided.
As this is an experimental scheme, we will monitor and review the impact. Modifications can be made if necessary. The first review will take place four weeks after the scheme’s launch followed by a report presented to City of London Committees. We will also begin a comprehensive public consultation after the Bank on Safety scheme is in place. This will give the opportunity to experience the changes and make comment whilst the City monitors the impact of safety and traffic movements. The City Corporation will need to determine whether the safety scheme should remain in place based on the evidence and comments.
Our entire project team are committed to continue to work closely with you and are available at your convenience. We are preparing materials that will help further explain possible modifications. Additionally, next month we will be hosting project briefings at St Stephen Walbrook Church on Wednesday 5 April at 12:30pm and 5:30pm.
2017 looks like being a challenging year, both internationally, nationally, and here in the City.
Your elected Members for the Ward of Broad Street are unique in the City in each chairing a major City Committee which places us at the heart of decision making in the Square Mile. We will be doing all we can to ensure that the City continues to prosper, whatever strategy the Government pursues to disengage from Europe.
We pledge to deliver more on the local issues which affect the City and Broad Street Ward. John Bennett and John Scott had long careers in the banking industry, latterly with Deutsche Bank in the Ward, whilst Chris Hayward is a resident in the Ward. As Chairman of the Planning & Transportation Committee, Chris’s responsibilities touch on the lives of everyone here in the City, both residents and workers.
Although less obvious, John Scott’s chairmanship of the Markets Committee also impinges upon lives as our wholesale markets at Smithfield, Billingsgate and Spitalfields supply shops, restaurants and markets stalls throughout London. Culture has long been at the heart of what we do in the City and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, chaired by John Bennett, tops the Guardian’s league table of conservatoires in 2017.
Each one of us has many responsibilities apart from these headlines. We would welcome the chance to tell you more and there is nothing to beat a personal contact so please either respond to this message or contact us individually if you want to arrange a meeting either here at Guildhall or at your office or home if you live in the City. A Wardmote (Ward meeting) will be held at Carpenters’ Hall at 12 noon on Wednesday 22nd March. This gives you the opportunity to question us and all the other candidates in the forthcoming City elections and we look forward to meeting you.
Learn more about the Ward, your Common Councilmen, and your Alderman from this short video:
We are deeply concerned that City firms are being hit particularly hard in the first central Government revaluation since 2010 with average bills set to rise by 30%. Bills will be sent out in March next year but you can check your draft 2017 valuation now and ask for it to be changed if it’s wrong by providing rental evidence.
Strong demand for commercial property has placed pressure on the supply of office space across the capital which is driving up rents. Generally, though, City rents are still well below those in Westminster.
The City is committed to increasing the supply of accommodation for businesses and we continue to press, in particular, for smaller units to accommodate SMEs with fewer than 50 or 100 staff in space of less than 500 sq metres, which have been diminishing.
Over the years the make-up of the City has changed, with smaller, more agile and flexible businesses now the norm. Following the Brexit vote, London needs to redouble its efforts to maintain its competitive position as a world-leading financial and business centre in attracting all types of firms. A sudden and sharp increase in tax bills for the capital’s businesses is both unwelcome and badly timed given the uncertainties Brexit brings.
We want to see the impact eased through meaningful transitional relief. The Government’s current proposals for transition would see bills increase by up to 42% cent next year which is a huge increase at one go and at short notice.
This is another issue which adds weight to the devolution case for London to decouple London’s business rates system from the rest of the country. This will stop London’s high property values from distorting the national distribution of rates and ease the pressure on the City’s businesses.
You can check your 2017 draft valuation here and ask for it to be amended if it’s wrong.
PS – 2017 City Vote Registration
There are just 2 weeks left now to renew your entitlement to vote or register for the first time. The process has been made even easier and is fully online.
This is an important way to hold the City Corporation to account and to have your say in the way the square mile is run. It’s also a good way to be kept informed about what’s happening in the City and your Ward in which you work or live.
If you’ve not been asked if you’d like to continue on the register, and would like to, please get in touch and we can let you know who is co-ordinating the process for your business. Residential votes are managed separately direct with individual residents.
Best wishes.
Alderman Michael Mainelli
Common Councilmen John Bennett (Deputy), John Scott and Chris Hayward
City Giving Day 2016 – Tuesday 27th September #GoRed
City Giving Day is less than a week away. With more than 200 organisations signed up and hearing there plans it is certain to be bigger and better than ever.
As you know City Giving Day, driven by the Lord Mayor’ Appeal, is the once in a year opportunity when collectively the City can unite, celebrate and showcase the fantastic charitable work it does in communities across London and beyond.
On the day itself The Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, Sheriffs, and Aldermen will play their part by visiting some 42 businesses in the Square Mile, West End, and Canary Wharf.
During the day you may well see some red robes walking around the City as they tour from business to business and meet employees seeing first-hand the philanthropic activities on show which are being celebrated.
We have been inundated with stories of what will happen on the day, from Investec’s “Dragon’s Den” style event, during which they’ll give away seed funding to social impact initiatives; The Don’s fundraising Long Long Lunch; to MWR Infosecurity’s cyber security challenge.
To help make City Giving Day more visible this year, businesses’ and employees will be Going Red to show their support and help amplify the message that the City does good. We have heard this could be wearing ties, shoes and dresses, to baking cupcakes and wearing wigs
There are 6 ‘simple’ ways for you to be part of it and support the Lord Mayor and the LMA team
#GoRed and encourage your organisation to as well
Join the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs’ and Aldermen kick off the morning with a photo call in Guildhall Yard 8.20-9.00
Be part of the thunderclap to help make City Giving Day go big –please encourage others to join it too
Send us photos of any activity that you see
Tweet about CGD and or follow @LMAppeal and retweet
Pick up City AM on the morning and more for colleagues and contacts
