Residents disenfranchised by City Standards Committee

Further to the debate with the City about whether our elected representatives are allowed to actually represent us on matters relating to where we live, the BA has teamed up with the Golden Lane and Petticoat Square residents associations to try to get sense to prevail.

The following is from Jane Smith, the chair of the BA
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I am enclosing a public statement that the BA together with Golden Lane and Petticoat Square residents' associations have made about two motions going before the Court of Common Council on 6 December. These propose an independent working party to look at an interpretation of the Localism Act that doesn't disenfranchise residents and a look at the appeals mechanism in the case of complaints.
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I've also asked our councillors to support the need for an independent look at this. The meeting of the Standards Committee on 15 November didn't fill me with confidence that the policy they propose would address the underlying problem of being disenfranchised.

Jane Smith
Chair, Barbican Association


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Subject : Residents disenfranchised by City Standards Committee

Dear Members of the Court of Common Council

Please find below a statement issued by three residents' associations in the City of London supporting motions to be put to the Court of Common Council of the City of London on 6 December.

Some background is available in http://www.cityam.com/269724/city-london-corporation-caught-gagging-row-after-referring

Jane Smith
Chair, Barbican Association

Residents disenfranchised by City Standards Committee 

The Barbican Association, Golden Lane Estate Residents' Association, and Petticoat Square Leaseholders' Association, together representing a majority of City residents, jointly support the proposal to be put before the Court of Common Council on 6 December that the City should establish an independent working party to consider the issue of dispensations under the Localism Act for members who have disclosable pecuniary interests. 

This working party should balance the need to uphold the anti-corruption principles of the Localism Act with the need for City residents to be assured that their elected members can fully represent them. 

Residents feel disenfranchised by recent decisions of the Standards Committee that have prevented our elected members from even speaking on issues of concern to the people who live in the City. We are not confident that the new policy being drawn up by the Standards Committee will uphold residents' rights to representation because it says nothing about how the Act will be interpreted in practice. We urge the City to adopt a more balanced approach and acknowledge that being able to elect fellow residents to represent them is a basic democratic right for your residents. 

The three associations also jointly support a second proposal that the City should establish an independent working party to consider the issue of how internal proceedings, currently handled by the Standards Committee, are dealt with. This follows a recent case in which a resident councillor was referred to the police and had proceedings brought against her in the Standards Committee after she represented her constituents on Golden Lane Estate on a matter in which it was never alleged that she (or anyone else) could have obtained any financial benefit. The case ended, after several months, with no investigation by the police and no sanction by the Standards Committee, but the possibility of its recurrence has had a chilling effect on resident councillors doing what they were elected to do.

Jane Smith
Chair Barbican Association chairBA@btinternet.com 

Tim Godsmark
Chair Golden Lane Estate Residents Association chair.glera@gmail.com 

Roger Way
Chair Petticoat Square Leaseholders' Association rogerwayg1@gmail.com