Listening to and Speaking up for Residents

I do hope you are managing to keep well. My late mother-in-law always said ‘Count your blessings’ and that seems good advice in these difficult times. It was great that September was warm and sunny so that we could make the most of being outside. I think I’m very lucky to be able to sit in our beautiful gardens chatting with friends. Now that the evenings are closing in and it’s cooler it’s going to be harder to socialise within the rules. Music brings a lot of pleasure and it’s amazing that there is now so much to choose from on line. I regularly sign up to the Royal Opera performances and the ballet productions and of course we have the wonderful Barbican Centre on our doorstep. Thanks to some very kind residents I was very lucky to hear Bryn Terfel sing Ivor Novello songs at the Barbican last Sunday. Wonderful!

My other treat whilst spending so much time at home is to listen to the Gresham lectures – free on line. This week I heard Tristram Hunt talking about Marx and Engels and their time spent in London. I’d also recommend Robin Wilson on Number Theory – a delight. I’ve not physically been to the Guildhall since last March. There was a brief attempt at hybrid meetings with a couple of members and officers in the Guildhall and the rest of the committee and other officers working from home. I opted to stay at home and join the meetings on line. Due to the latest restrictions the experiment was abandoned and we are back to 100% on line meetings With few meetings over the last 6 months it’s been catch up time and there are few days when I don’t have at least one meeting or briefing. I try not to look too far ahead as everything is very uncertain. We did miss having our grandchildren from Japan visit this year. That’s been a treat for about 10 years and unfortunately they won’t be coming this Christmas either which was our original plan. The prospect of quarantine and difficulties returning to Japan are too overwhelming. We shall miss them.

Hong Kong Residents

In July, and then again in September, I put my name to a motion which mildly criticised the Chinese government and asked for the City of London to welcome any refugees from Hong Kong following the Prime Minister’s proposal to allow 3 million British Nationals to live and work in the UK.

The Sino British joint declaration was signed in 1984 prior to handover to China in 1997, However the Chinese have stated that "that as soon as the handover was complete, [the Declaration] effectively became void".

The National Security Law recently introduced in Hong Kong will drastically curb political protest and dissent in Hong Kong.

It is a traumatic decision to leave your country and build a new life elsewhere and these people will need all the help and support we can give, Our motion asked for the City of London to welcome any who chose to come here. The City has a fine tradition of welcoming refugees over the centuries and very much appreciates the contribution they have made to our great City. Subsequently the Chinese Ambassador issued a statement criticising those of us who had signed the motion.

Although the motion was passed with a healthy majority, there was opposition from some (mostly senior Common Councillors and Aldermen). I’m afraid our trade relations with China are sometimes seen as more important.

(Closer to home) Housing plans

I am delighted to hear that we have received planning permission for almost 100 social housing units at Sydenham Hill in the borough of Lewisham. We now have to submit detailed plans. Before lockdown I joined several members of the Housing Management Committee in a visit to Lewisham to discuss the proposals with the Mayor of Lambeth (Damien Egan). The Mayor was very encouraging - Lewisham too is keen to increase its housing stock. The site belongs to the City of London and is next door to the Grade II listed 1950’s Lammas Green estate which also belongs to the City. This is an exciting project and will help those on the City’s waiting list.

At this week’s briefing on sustainable economics I said that I would very much like the City to be a world leader in green house building. I will do my best to ensure this is achieved.

Underfloor Heating Working Party – Background Heating Adjustment

At a presentation at the Barbican Association meeting in April 2019 it was agreed to move 20 hours of our electricity from each of January and February to the ‘shoulder’ months of April and October which are currently unheated (except when the temperature is exceptionally low). Residents did not want to pay any more on their Service Charge bills so we could not increase the overall amount.

The Underfloor Heating Working Party (UHWP) recently consulted all residents via noticeboards, Barbican Talk and the weekly Barbican Estate Office email. 500+ residents responded with 64% in favour of the proposal. This is a very high response rate and the UHWP Party was very pleased with the clear result. We have modelled our proposal on last year’s weather. This is a one year trial There have been concerns from some residents, particularly those living in corner, top floor and those flats directly above the podium that are not as warm as the other flats. The UHWP will be looking at this concern at its next meeting. Thank you for the support from the working party members and residents.

Please let me know if you have any questions or any ideas for improving the underfloor heating. Mary Durcan, Chairman Underfloor Heating Working Party – email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Health & Wellbeing Board

As Deputy Chairman of the Health and Wellbeing Board I am pleased to be involved in the development of the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy and its work. At this difficult time when we are in the midst of a Covid 19 world wide pandemic this is an interesting and important time to discuss health and social care issues. I’ve attached the draft of the speech I made recently.

Our priorities are health inequality and Covid 19 with the effects such as mental health issues, homelessness and job loss and insecurity.

Food Bank

Thank you to all the volunteers who set up the City foodbank at a time of such crisis. They provided a much needed service based at the Golden Lane Community Centre and I’m sure the residents, particularly of Golden Lane and Portsoken, valued it enormously, There will come a time when the residents of Golden Lane will be able to open their Community Centre again so it is great that the delivery of food support will transition to the First Love Foundation based in Poplar but serving a wide area. The service will be available to all City residents who are assessed as needing help. Golden Lane residents can also seek help from St Luke’s Food Connections Service. As a trustee of St Luke’s Community Centre (based in Central Street) I wholeheartedly recommend their services which cover a wide range of community needs.

Mary Durcan
Common Councillor
Cripplegate Ward
City of London Corporation
(This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
October 2020