The Bridge House Estates Trust Fund is an ancient City fund, originally established more than 800 years ago for the construction and maintenance of London Bridge. The primary purpose of the Trust remains the maintenance of London, Tower, Southwark and Blackfriars Bridges. The Corporation of London is the sole trustee of the Bridge House Estates Trust Fund and a committee meets ten times a year, in public session, to make grant awards. The Main Grants Programme is an ongoing programme funding charitable activity in London. It makes grants within five priority themes: transport and access for older and disabled people; children and young people; older people in the community; environmental conservation, and technical assistance to the voluntary sector. The Small Grants Scheme is being piloted in eleven boroughs and is targeted at small voluntary organisations with incomes of less than £50k per annum. The maximum grant is £5,000. For more information, please visit the Bridge House Grants website: www.bridgehousegrants.org.uk

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Business Improvement Districts (BIDS)

Business Improvement Districts (BIDS) involve an additional business rate being levied to pay for local improvements, provided the majority of businesses in the locality support the proposal in a ballot. If the majority of businesses do support the proposal, all businesses are required to pay the additional rate. For several years the Corporation has been lobbying the Government to follow the example of cities in the US, and in particular New York, where BIDs have been very successful. In the US, much of the funding generated by BIDs has been used to create a cleaner, safer environment, with investment in street cleaning, lighting and public safety issues.

On 21 January 2003, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister published a ‘Working Draft of Guidance on Business Improvement Districts'. The guidance is designed to act as an explanation of the Government's vision of BIDS and how this is provided for in the forthcoming legislation, the Local Government Bill. The guidance is also intended to provide practical information and advice for those wishing to set up BIDS. It is likely that the guidance will be revised and reissued once the Local Government Bill is enacted. (The Local Government Bill was published by the Government on 26 November 2002, and includes provision to introduce Business Improvement Districts).

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City Academy

The City of London Academy (Southwark) is a brand new school situated in the north of the borough. It opened in September 2003, with its first intake of 180 Year 7 pupils. The Academy will eventually servce 1,200 pupils aged 11-19.

The Academy specialises in business and enterprise, covering subjects such as finance, economics and business. Under the direction of its Principal, Martyn Coles, teachers use the latest in information technology and state of the art equipment as part of an innovative and dynamic approach.

The Corporation of London has contributed £2 million to the establishment of the Academy, which is open to pupils from Southwark and the City of London. The rest of the costs are funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

Due to planning difficulties with the permanent site at Paterson Park in Bermondsey, the Academy has initially opened in temporary facilities in Peckham Rye. A daily transport service for pupils is provided from Paterson Park.

The temporary accommodation will move onto the site at Paterson Park in September 2004, whilst building work is completed. The finished Academy with state of the art facilities catering for IT, sport, dance and drama will be completed by September 2005. The facilities will also be open for community use.

The City Academy programme was introduced by the Government in 2000. The aim is to establish a number of Academies in urban areas across the country, which will provide secondary education for pupils aged 11-16 or 11-18. These will be publicly funded all-ability independent schools run in partnership with business and voluntary sector sponsors. As well as covering the full National Curriculum, they will be centres of excellence for the local area and tap into the expertise and experience of the sponsor.

For more information please visit:
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/our_services/education/city_academy.htm

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Clustering

The Corporation of London has recently commissioned research into Clustering- the phenomenon of businesses forming geographic clusters with firms in the same or related sectors - especially in the City and the City Fringe. This is in line with Government objectives concerning Clustering.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) argues that collaboration between firms in networks and clusters is a key driver in the development of a knowledge-driven economy. It has therefore urged local and regional development agencies to focus their strategies on the understanding and promotion of business clusters. Understanding the levers which encourage their growth, and the obstacles which slow down or frustrate such growth, is seen as a key policy objective.

The Corporation of London, as the local authority for the biggest and most important cluster in London, is ideally placed to help drive this debate forward. The Corporation has already commissioned a 'scoping study' outlining methods for researching the cluster of financial and business services in the City. This study collected and reviewed current knowledge on 'cluster theory' and discussed how it could be applied to the City and the wider London economy.

More recently, the Corporation has commissioned some follow-up research into Clusters in the City and the City Fringe, and on 12 February 2003, it published a new report ‘Financial Services Clustering and its Significance for London'. The report, concludes that businesses in the City of London and Canary Wharf will continue to reap the benefits of clustering, provided that transport and regulatory issues are addressed. It also indicates that continued clustering, is vital to retaining the City's status as the world's leading international financial and business centre.

To read the full report, please click here.

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Congestion Charging

On February 17 2003, the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, introduced a congestion charging scheme in central London. It applies between 7am and 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, excluding Public Holidays. The 'boundary' of the zone is formed by the Inner Ring Road, on which there is no charge to drive. This comprises: Marylebone Road, Euston Road, Pentonville Road, City Road, Great Eastern Street, Commercial Street, Tower Bridge Road, New Kent Road, Kennington Lane, Vauxhall Bridge Road, Grosvenor Place, Park Lane and Edgware Road. Vehicles driving across the charge zone must pay a £5 daily charge, however some vehicles are exempt from the charge (for example buses and emergency services). Others are entitled to a discount - mainly residents, but also some vehicle breakdown services. The Mayor of London has estimated that the charge will cut congestion by up to 15% and raise at least £130 million a year which, by law, will have to go back into the Capital's transport system.

The Corporation of London supports action to reduce traffic congestion, in central London in particular. However, the Corporation has expressed reservations about some aspects of the congestion charging scheme. For further details of the Corporation of London's position on congestion charging, please click here.

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Consultation

The Corporation is a complex organisation providing a diverse range of functions and services for the benefit of a wide range of different interest groups, or stakeholders. The Corporation has in place a wide variety of mechanisms in order to ascertain the views and requirements of its stakeholders, and to assist in the decision making process. The Corporation is committed to consulting, listening and acting on the views that it receives. For further information, please visit: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about_us/consultation/consultation.htm

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Crossrail

The Corporation of London believes that Crossrail is the most important transport proposal for Central London at the present time. Crossrail is a proposed east-west rail service running through Central London, joining Liverpool Street and Paddington stations in its central section, and then in its 'classic' form, offering routes west to Reading, including a spur to Heathrow, and east through Stratford towards Shenfield. In its current form, this project is known as Crossrail Line 1 and has a number of options and spurs for extended east and west connections. (There is also a separate proposal, Crossrail Line 2, that would run north and south, and is phased to follow Line 1)

The Government has released £150m for planning work to be carried out by Cross London Rail Links Limited (CLRL)- 'Crossrail' [A 50/50 joint venture company formed by Transport for London (TfL) and the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA)]. It is tasked with promoting and developing the Crossrail project.

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Development and archaeology

The City is the historic core of London and has been continuously settled for nearly 2000 years. As such it has a rich and important archaeological heritage, some of which is of national importance, which the Corporation has a duty to safeguard. The Corporation employs a full time specialist archaeology officer in the Department of Planning and Transportation to guide and provide advice to developers on how to manage archaeological requirements in the planning process in accordance with legislation and policy.

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Development in conservation areas

Conservation areas are defined as areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance. The Corporation designates conservation areas and then has a duty to ensure that developments preserve or enhance their character or appearance. In the City there are 26 conservation areas which cover approximately one third of the land area. The City's conservation areas add to the attractiveness of the City - they are assets which distinguish the City from other international centres.

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East London Line

The East London Line Extensions project will extend the existing East London line northwards and southwards to connect with the existing rail network. The extensions will deliver transport, regeneration, social inclusion and job creation gains across the capital. The East London Line will be extended from Whitechapel via new stations at Shoreditch High Street, Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston Junction to link with national rail network lines via the North London line to Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park. The Southern extensions will run to Croydon, Crystal Palace, Wimbledon and Clapham Junction. All work is scheduled to complete by 2006. The Corporation of London chairs the East London Line Group - a consortium of local authorities, business, regeneration agencies and other interested parties.

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e-Government

1n March 1999, the Government's "Modernising Government" white paper was published, in which targets for using technology and electronic service delivery (ESD) to transform public sector service delivery were announced. A deadline of December 2005 has been set for 100% electronic service delivery capability.

Local authorities were asked by government to submit an Implementing e-Government (IEG) Statement by 31 July 2001, setting out how they intend to meet the 2005 target. Councils have been asked to develop that initial statement for second and subsequent years. You can read the Corporation of London's current IEG statement (IEG2) here: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/online_services/ieg2_final.PDF

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Environmental Issues

Litter, noise, increasing traffic, air pollution and climate change have brought about a realisation that in a global economy, the prosperity of the City, and the quality of life of its residents and workers are inextricably linked to the way in which we treat our environment. Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally- in every area in which humans impact on the environment. Agenda 21 was adopted by more than 178 Governments at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio in June 1992. The full implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Commitments to the Rio principles, were strongly reaffirmed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg, South Africa from 26 August to 4 September 2002. To read the local Agenda 21 action plan for the City, which outlines how the Corporation and its partners are working towards a sustainable future, please click here: http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/living_environment/sustainability/pdf/sustainable_city.pdf

At the WSSD in Johannesburg, 'The London Principles Project' was launched - a new commitment from the Corporation of London and individual businesses and organisations to develop a set of principles for sustainable development. The Project examines the role of the UK financial services sector in promoting sustainable development, compiles a compendium of best practice, draws out of this experience lessons for future innovation and puts in place mechanisms to ensure continual progress. The Project was commissioned by the Corporation of London on behalf of DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), as one of the sector initiatives that the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, would take to the WSSD. Following the Summit, the City is committed to continuing this important work and moving finance for sustainable development more firmly into the commercial mainstream. For more information about 'The London Principles Project', please click here:

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/living_environment/sustainability/sustainable_development.htm

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European Affairs

The existence and legislative power of the European Union is one of the key backdrops to all areas of City business, to the work of the Corporation as the City's local authority and indeed to the future of London as a financial centre. The Corporation, therefore, at a political and operational level, devotes substantial resources to European issues.

The completion of the Single Market in financial services is one of the most important challenges faced by the European Union in the next few years. As the most comprehensive international financial centre in Europe, the City of London is keen to ensure a fully functioning and effective single market. The Corporation facilitates a continuing dialogue between all those interested in maximising the competitiveness and utility of these financial services throughout the world. A group of practitioners from the City drawn from a broad range of international financial services interests has produced a discussion paper about the creation of the Single European Market for financial services. The text sets out eight principles and practices to underpin policy, legislation, consultation, regulation, implementation, enforcement, governance and external review needed to achieve the objective of a competitive, fully functioning single market. Please click here to read the discussion paper, 'Creating a Single European Market for Financial Services' (November 2002): http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business_city/pdf/single_market.pdf

The Corporation of London's European Office would be most interested to have your comments by email: europeanoffice@corpoflondon.gov.uk

For more information about the Corporation of London's European Affairs work, please visit our pages on EUpolitix.com:
http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/Forums/Corporation+of+London/

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IT in the City

The City has maintained its position by pioneering the use of information technology. There are a number of factors that help the City maintain this position. One is the availability of skills: we benefit greatly from the attractions of London to young well educated people from around the world. Another critical factor is the availability and cost of network connections. The Corporation will naturally do everything it can do to facilitate the use of IT in the City, as this is one of our major competitive advantages as a financial centre.

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Key worker housing

The Corporation of London believes that affordable and flexible housing should be available to key sector workers who work within the City boundary, in relatively low paid employment. Consequently, the Corporation is developing low cost schemes for City workers with a household income of less than £38,000, employed in the following sectors: emergency services, health services, transport services, local government and education.

The Corporation's Key Worker Housing Initiative is in line with both the Government's and the Mayor of London's strategy to house key workers. However, whereas the Government's scheme is geared towards home ownership, the Corporation's initiative offers the full range of options, including full ownership, shared ownership and renting for increased flexibility.

As the Corporation cannot provide property in the Square Mile, it often negotiates with other London boroughs to provide housing in their areas. For example, with Corporation of London support, 52 homes for key worker have recently been provided, in the boroughs of Hackney and Newham. Another 102 are in the pipeline in Bromley, Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham and Newham. (These developments are due to be completed between April 2003 and February 2004).

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London Plan

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, issued his Draft London Plan for public consultation in June 2002, seeking comments by 30 September 2002. The Mayor is required by legislation to prepare a number of strategies for London and one of these is a “Spatial Development Strategy” known as the “London Plan”. Once adopted the London Plan will replace “Strategic Guidance for London Planning Authorities”. However, the London Plan has a wider remit. It deals with the spatial aspects of the Mayor's other strategies, such as those for Transport and Economic Development. It is also intended to provide London-wide guidance for the boroughs' various plans and strategies, notably their Community Strategies.

The Mayor's vision is to make London "an exemplary sustainable world city" based on three interwoven themes: strong, diverse, long term economic growth; social inclusivity to give all Londoners the opportunity to share in London's future success; and fundamental improvements in London's environment and use of resources. Now that the consultation period has finished, the Mayor will consider the comments made and is likely to issue a list of amendments to the Draft London Plan in response to these. Outstanding objections will go on to be considered at an Examination in Public (EIP) commencing on March 3 2003. It is intended that the Plan should be adopted before the end of the current mayoral term in 2004.

Overall, the policies of the Draft London Plan are broadly compatible with those of the Corporation. Inevitably, however, in a document of this complexity, there are several key issues and many points of detail where a response from the Corporation was appropriate to help ensure that the Draft London Plan reflects fully the concerns of the Corporation. To view the Corporation of London's response to the Mayor of London on the Draft London Plan, please click here.

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Lord Mayor of the City of London and the Mayor of London

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was elected on 4 May 2000 and as head of the Greater London Authority he is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. This entails responsibility for transport - through Transport for London; economic development through the London Development Agency; police, civil defence and fire services; planning; the environment; as well as the championing and co-ordination of London-wide events.

The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Gavyn Arthur, has a separate, complementary role. His position as head of the Corporation of London means that he is involved in many of the same issues as the Mayor of London but as the representative of those who live, work or run a business in the Square Mile. His additional responsibilities include the important task of promoting the City of London - and the UK financial services industry as a whole - both at home and abroad, working to strengthen the City's position as the world's leading international financial centre.

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Markets: Food / Retail

The Corporation of London is the country's largest Market Authority, and it owns and runs four famous markets: Billingsgate market is the UK's largest inland fish market; Leadenhall market is now a thriving pedestrianised shopping location; Smithfield is Britain's largest meat market, attracting buyers not only from London but from much further afield and New Spitalfields is the leading horticultural market in the UK. In 1991 the market moved out of the City to a purpose-built 31-acre site in Leyton, East London.

In March 2002, the Corporation of London, together with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), agreed that Mr Nicholas Saphir be appointed to undertake an independent review of London's Wholesale Markets. (Mr Saphir farms in Kent and is an advisor to several large farming and food companies in the United States, South America and Europe. He is also Chairman of the Agricultural Forum). Mr Saphir briefed stakeholders on his findings on Friday 22 November 2002 and launched a 3 month consultation period.

The key recommendations of the review are: London's markets need to diversify to provide customers with composite sites; farmers are encouraged to work closer with the wholesale markets to enhance the distribution of British produce to the catering industry; restrictive legislation be removed for a more effective supply chain; that London be serviced by three composite markets for meat, fish, fruit and vegetables based at the sites of Nine Elms, Spitalfields and Western International and that no new single central body be introduced to oversee the London markets.

On 19 February 2003, the Corporation of London formally replied to DEFRA, after consulting extensively with the stakeholders at Billingsgate, Spitalfields and Smithfield markets. The Corporation's key recommendations were that: the Corporation take over responsibility for New Covent Garden market from the Government; that legislation be introduced by the Government to relocate Smithfields, Billingsgate and Spitalfields markets on a composite site based on the current Spitalfields site; New Covent Garden and Western International remain in their current sites.

The review can be viewed on the DEFRA web site:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/markets/index.htm

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Money Laundering and Financial Crime

The City of London puts a high priority on the prevention and detection of economic crime, but the sheer volume of its business makes it particularly vulnerable. Nevertheless, illegal activity, such as money laundering, is alien to the culture and traditions of the City. It is taken extremely seriously by firms, the City Police and the Corporation, and great efforts are made to frustrate it.

The existence of a single regulatory body, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has helped make the environment less favourable for the commission of fraud, as has the existence of the Serious Fraud Office. In addition, since the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the law has been tightened radically, in the UK, and in other centres, in order to indentify, track and choke off the movement of funds used to support terrorist organisations and to finance terrorist acts. The machinery put in place, both by statute and by financial institutions themselves, is intended to make the laundering of funds as difficult as possible and to encourage and if necessary compel those working in financial services to watch for it and to report their suspicions to the authorities. City firms realise that association with money-laundering and other forms of financial crime is not only against the public interest but also commercially undesirable, staining their own reputations for transparency and straight dealing.

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Open Spaces

The Corporation of London owns and manages over 10,000 acres of open spaces in and around the London area. The larger open spaces outside the 'square mile' were in most cases acquired by Acts of Parliament to protect them from development. In addition there are 150 small open spaces situated within the 'square mile.' All sites are managed to high standards with particular attention to presentation, safety, bio-diversity and sustainability. The Corporation seeks to strengthen Planning Guidance for the protection of Open Spaces; explore radical approaches to traffic management; improve consultation and feedback; develop closer relationships with other land managers; develop working arrangements/partnerships with other public bodies; seek continuous improvement through Best Value.

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Planning

Building and development work in the City of London is guided by the Corporation through the Building and Control and Planning functions. These functions seek to foster the continued development of the City as the heart of the leading international financial and business centre, whilst at the same time improving living, working and travelling conditions, enhancing the City's environment, and protecting its historic building and spaces.

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Planning Uncertainty and Delays

The Corporation's City of London Unitary Development Plan (UDP) provides the planning criteria against which development proposals in the City are assessed. The UDP provides developers with a degree of certainty over the form of development that will be acceptable to the Corporation. However, because of the complex built form of the City, each site involves a large number of policy considerations which must be interpreted and balanced against one another. The Corporation helps in this process by discussing and suggesting amendments to draft proposals before they are submitted as planning applications. The result is that 99% of planning applications in the City are approved, thus giving developers a good degree of certainty that their proposals, once submitted, will be acceptable to the Corporation.

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Public safety in the City

Following the introduction of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 the Corporation of London and the City of London Police, as the responsible authorities, developed a Crime and Disorder Strategy. The Strategy for the next three years was launched on 2 May 2002. It aims to reduce crime and disorder; reduce the fear of crime and disorder; reduce the cost of crime and disorder and enhance the quality of life for residents and workers.

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Regulation

The proper regulation of financial services, the institutions which provide them and the markets through which they are transacted is crucial to the City's reputation as a financial centre. The Financial Services Act of 1986 established principles for market regulation with the aim of protecting individual investors from market abuse and incompetence and malfeasance by practitioners. In 1997, the Government announced a plan to amalgamate nine separate regulatory agencies into one, called the Financial Services Authority, the FSA. This means that banks, securities houses, insurance companies and the markets in which they operate are now regulated under one roof. In formulating its regulatory approach, the FSA pursues the statutory objectives including: maintaining confidence in the UK financial system; promoting public understanding of the financial system; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and reducing the extent to which it is possible for a business carried on by a regulated person to be used for a purpose connected with financial crime. Finally, and most importantly, the FSA is expected to be a cost-effective regulatory body acting within parameters which facilitate innovation and which do not impede or distort competition whilst recognising the international character of financial services and markets and the desirability of maintaining the UK's competitive position.

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Stamp Duty (Share Dealing)

The London Stock Exchange, supported by the Corporation of London and a large number of City firms and institutions, is currently campaigning for the abolition of stamp duty on share dealing which increases dealing costs, cuts pension values and hampers UK companies' ability to raise capital. The Stock Exchange predicts that by cutting this tax, share prices could be boosted by as much as 10%, thereby helping to ease financial difficulties caused by falling markets for both City companies and investors. The elimination of this tax (half of 1% on the purchase value) would improve the competitiveness of London in comparison with other financial centres such as New York and Tokyo where there is no tax on dealings.

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Street Scene

An attractive environment is a key element in the various factors which make the City a desirable place in which to live and work. To maintain and build upon that quality, the Corporation launched the 'Street Scene Challenge' initiative in 2000. It is a partnership scheme which enables the Corporation to contribute financially towards improvement to the street scene in the City. This follows the successful 'City Changes' initiative (launched in 1992) under which 22 projects were funded with a total budget of £3m, of which 12 were in partnership with the private sector. Its purpose was to accelerate improvements to the environment and it demonstrated that material benefit could be gained from partnership between the public and private sector and set an example for the future.

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Support for the Arts

The City of London is proud to be the only financial centre of world importance that is also a centre of culture. In addition to the normal range of services provided by the Corporation, the Corporation is also the third largest sponsor of the arts in the country. Such support provides the crucial leadership that lets culture flourish in the City for the benefit of London. Arts policies serve every need with music and theatre, art galleries, films, festivals, specialist libraries, educational programmes and institutions. Both the Barbican Centre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama engage in schools education and other programmes in neighbouring boroughs which is consistent with other City Fringe activities.

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Value of separation of police forces

One of the greatest strengths of British policing is its local accountability: it is vital that policing should be responsive to local needs. In this respect the arrangements for policing the City of London remain second to none and this is consistently demonstrated by the lowest levels of crime and the highest levels of public satisfaction in the country. This success story has been acknowledged by successive governments which decided to exclude the City of London Police from legislation which enables mandatory amalgamation. The two London forces each deal with unique capital city problems - investigating serious fraud is an example in the City. For decades stakeholders have benefited from quality policing focused entirely on their local needs.

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