Following the City of London Corporation’s ‘all out’ Court of Common Council elections in March this year, the Court was convened today to complete the election process and commence the first day of business of the new Court.
As is tradition, before the sitting, all 125 Members are invited to join the Lord Mayor at St Lawrence Jewry next Guildhall which is the official church of the City of London Corporation. Fr. James, the Guild Vicar, is the Chaplain to the City Corporation’s Members and staff.
In keeping with tradition, Members and Aldermen participate in a gowned procession from the Guildhall across the Guildhall Yard to the Church in order of the length of service they have given to the City Corporation, newest first. The order is taken from the date by which you are presented to the Court (which is done in alphabetical order of Ward names in ‘all out’ elections). As I was elected on a by-election in 2017, I remember having to be the first out and assigned number 125. This year, I’m now number 36, which shows just how much change in Members we have seen in the past 8 years!
During the service, Members are reminded of the responsibility bestowed upon them when called into public office and how we must strive to represent the needs of all members of our community to build a better, more equitable society.
There was also reference made to the fact each Member brings different skills and experiences with them to role, but to derive the best possible value, it is by working together that we will succeed and unleashing our full potential. Perhaps a veiled referenced to some of the divisive political campaigns which have taken place in recent months.
Following the Service, Members headed to the Great Hall. Each new Common Councillor is seated in the public gallery and called one-by-one to be presented by their Ward Deputy to the Lord Mayor on the dais. The carefully choregraphed process follows historic traditions and involves a lot of bowing!
As Ward Deputy, I was honoured to introduce Bishopsgate’s new additions, Simon Burrows and Karina Dostalova, alongside Tom Sleigh.
The first Court meeting is predominantly focused around the election of Members to Committees. As you can imagine, the preceding few weeks includes lots of horse trading! The City of London’s Committee’s are split into Ward Committees and Corporate Committees. Each of the 25 Wards has automatic nomination rights to appoint Members as local representatives onto the following Ward Committees:
1. Finance
2. Planning and Transportation
3. Children and Community Services
4. Culture, Heritage and Libraries
5. Port Health and Environmental Services
Where Wards do not take-up their full allocation of seats, those vacancies are offered-up to the full Court of Common Council for Members to express an interest in joining it. If the number of Members exceeds the number of vacancies, an election of the full Court is taken.
Corporate Committees are always decided by ballots of the whole Court. In the weeks preceding the meeting, Members are asked to express and interest in the Committees they would like to join. Committee Chairman and Deputy Chairman spend a lot of time explaining the roles and responsibilities of each Committee to new Members and will try to attract individuals with the skills and experience needed to further the strategies of their respective Committees.
Once everyone has registered an interest, the Town Clerk will email an overview, highlighting where the number of Members interested exceeds the number of seats available and whether an election is required to be called. At that stage, Members can withdraw their interest to avoid an election, or proceed to writing a 100 word statement which is circulated to all Members for consideration.
The other important factor is that some Committees require a pre-defined number of seats to be held by Members who have their primary residence in the City of London or less than 5 years service on that Committee.
This year, there was no contest for the Audit and Risk Management Committee, Markets Board, Digital Committee Services, Epping Forest and Commons Committee, Board of Governors of the City of London School, Natural Environment Board, West Ham Park Committee, Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood & Queens Park Committee, Barbican Residential Committee, Licensing Committee, Health and Wellbeing Board, Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee, Local Government Pensions Board, Freedom Applications Sub-Committee, Member Development and Standards Sub-Committee and the Capital Buildings Board.
Elections were required for the Policy & Resources Committee, Investment Committee, City of London Police Authority Board, Board of Governors of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Education Board, Gresham Committee, Corporate Services Committee, Barbican Centre Board, City Bridge Foundation Board and the Livery Committee. The full details are as below.
The next round of voting will include all of the sub-committees, appointments to outside bodies and consultative groups. There are literally hundreds which range from regulatory bodies to industry forums through to charities and government groups. That’s one of the many reasons why there are 100 Common Councillors and 25 Aldermen to cover the Square Mile!
Personally, I was pleased to be elected to the City of London Police Authority Board. The Board’s role is to make sure the City of London Police runs an effective and efficient service by holding the Commissioner to account; to ensure value for money in the way the police is run, and to set policing priorities taking into account the views of the community.
The City of London Police also leads the UK’s national policing strategy for fraud, economic and cyber crime, which includes running Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and cybercrime reporting centre.
After all the voting had concluded, the usual business requiring consideration and approval of the Court continued. You can read the full agenda here.
