City of London - June 12, 2015
We received a complaint that London's Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee illegally closed a meeting to discuss proposals from developers hoping to purchase and redevelop land owned by the City. The Ombudsman found that the discussions fit within the exceptions for acquisition or disposition of land and solicitor-client privilege. Following the publication of this report, the City of London informed our Office that Councillor Tanya Park was not present during the closed session on March 2, 2015. The report states that all members of council were present. The City did not correct this information when our Office reviewed the draft report with them by phone prior to publication. For the benefit of the record, the City has provided the This link opens in a new tabattached letter, which states: "...the Ombudsman Report entitled "Investigation into whether the City of London's Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee held an illegal meeting on March 2, 2015", dated June 2015, states that "All members of the committee were present during the closed session", which is not correct. As noted on the 13th Report of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee, Councillor Park declared a pecuniary interest on the above noted matter and was not in attendance in the meeting room when this matter was discussed and therefore, did not participate in any discussion regarding this matter. As requested, I can confirm that City of London representatives did not raise the error during our teleconference with you, held on June 8, 2015 in which you provided a verbal overview of the findings, noting that a written copy of the preliminary report was not made available to the City of London representatives at that time."