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Our Corporate
Plan 2024–2029
Contents
Foreword – Policy Chairman 2
Foreword – Town Clerk and Chief Executive 4
Who we are 6
Our impact and key facts 8
Our people 9
Our broader remit 10
Sustainability and natural environment 12
Culture and heritage 14
Our community 16
Education and lifelong learning 18
Economic contributions and assets 20
Our responsibilities in the Square Mile 22
Our responsibilities outside the Square Mile 24
Executive summary  26
Six Outcomes 28
Monitoring impact  30
Diverse Engaged Communities  32
Dynamic Economic Growth 38
Leading Sustainable Environment  44
Vibrant Thriving Destination  50
Providing Excellent Services 56
Flourishing Public Spaces 62
Annex: Key strategies and programmes 68
Foreword –
Policy Chairman

Whichever lens you

use to view the City of
London Corporation –
be it a global voice of
financial and professional
services, an economic
powerhouse, a London
leader, the custodian of
the Square Mile, or a place
you call home – we have
significant challenges and
opportunities to navigate.

Over the next five years, we will provide leadership

at local, London-wide, national, and international
levels through the outcomes articulated in our new
corporate plan. This corporate plan provides direction
and leadership on the issues that matter, including
tackling the climate crisis; growing the economy to
support jobs and businesses and fund public services;
and embracing new technologies that can transform
education and healthcare. This is leadership not just for
our generation, but for the generations of the future.

2
Our status as a global financial powerhouse national cultural icons for all to enjoy.
faces international competition like never We are partnering with the Greater London
before. Dynamic economic growth and being Authority to build a new world-class London
globally competitive is vital to the success Museum. We are creating an international
of people and businesses not just in the justice hub through our development at
financial and professional services sector, or Salisbury Square. And we are relocating
the City, but the entire country. We will press Billingsgate and Smithfield markets to
forward with our Vision for Economic Growth Barking and Dagenham, creating over
to help unlock investment and create 10,000 new jobs. As the sole trustee of the
prosperity, creating more jobs and helping to City Bridge Foundation, London’s biggest
fund the public services we all rely on. independent charity funder, we donate over
£30 million across the capital annually.
By improving our public In the City itself, changing economic
services and cultural offer, we conditions and working patterns mean
want our residents to be able we must promote and secure a magnetic
place that attracts businesses and people
to call the Square Mile the best alike. Being a successful and safe area
place to live. – a world-leading business district and
leisure destination that appeals to residents,
The Square Mile serves as the engine of workers, companies, and visitors alike –
the UK economy. It generates £85 billion is vital for our long-term prospects. Crucial
in economic output annually, supporting to our success is creating a safe and vibrant
615,000 jobs and businesses ranging from destination in the Square Mile. The world
our vital SMEs to global giants. Our financial of work has changed and will continue to
and professional services firms underpin do so. Enticing workers back to the office
modern life, supporting everything from means earning their commute. That requires
daily purchases to major life moments. This excellence across a range of factors from
sector is a truly nation-wide industry, with business appeal to transport, policing to the
two-thirds of the 2.5 million jobs outside built environment, hospitality to promoting
of London. We will continue to partner our cultural offer, and more.
with regional and local leaders, trade
associations and businesses to promote This corporate plan showcases
our sector and deliver on its contributions.
not only our commitment to
The City, and the UK, must strengthen the residents, businesses and
our economic security. This is vital for communities we serve in the
our prosperity. Our dedicated City of
Square Mile, but emphasises
London Police has an important role to
play – nationally and locally, online and our leadership in contributing
on our streets – in ensuring that the City to the UK’s future prosperity.
has the safest and most secure business
environment in the world. I am immensely proud to serve as the
In London, the City of London Corporation Policy Chairman of the City of London
not only governs our capital’s financial Corporation. Working together, there is
district but helps drive its overall success. no limit to what we can, and will, achieve.
Our major capital investments into London’s
civic fabric and public realm will support Chris Hayward

3
Foreword –
Town Clerk and
Chief Executive

The City of London

Corporation is a unique
organisation. For 900 years,
we’ve served as custodians
of the nation’s trading
centre, the beating heart of
London. We’ve helped the
capital transition from a
small settlement to a global
powerhouse. As the City has
evolved, so have we, with
responsibilities that extend
today into wider London, the
United Kingdom, and beyond.

But the City of London is more than a business district,

and we at the City of London Corporation are more than
guardians of history. We are convenors, facilitators,
enablers, philanthropists, landlords, educators,
environmentalists, and more. We have responsibilities
that span a broad geographical reach, and we have
statutory responsibilities that we take seriously.

4
We’re privileged to serve a diverse range of develop existing ones; and be values-driven
communities. As the governing body of the in our interactions, promoting equity, diversity
Square Mile, the City of London Corporation and inclusion, and supporting sustainability
has responsibilities to residents, workers, (economic, social, and environmental).
businesses, visitors, and many more. It is
serving this collection of communities, both We will be accountable, measuring our
in the City and elsewhere, that makes the success against targets that will evolve to
City of London Corporation an exciting and reflect new challenges. Clear targets will
unique place to be. help us make better, more effective, and
more strategic decisions. Embedded in
decision-making at all levels, this corporate
Whether you call the City of plan will be our golden thread, enabling
London home, or work, study everyone within the organisation, wherever
or visit here or at one of our they work, to feel connected to, and a part
of, the next five years.
sites outside the Square Mile,
this corporate plan is for you. Leading our response to the challenges and
opportunities of the next five years will be
our people. Wherever they are based, our
The following pages outline the actions dedicated professionals are key to delivering
that we as one organisation – including our our objectives. To recognise our dynamic
institutions – will take over the next five workforce as the asset that they are, our
fantastic years to ensure that the City of first people strategy has been developed in
London offers the best place to live, work, tandem with this corporate plan.
learn, and explore.
Guided by this corporate plan, we are Together, they are steps toward
embarking on an exciting and challenging
range of work that is only possible at the
our ambition of being a values-
City of London Corporation. Where we driven organisation.
excel, we want to continue demonstrating
leadership. Where we can be better, we have This plan is for everyone connected to
the aspiration and commitment to improve. the work, activities, and responsibilities of
That means building on brilliant basics and the City of London Corporation. We want
the provision of statutory duties to deliver to deliver the things that matter to you.
for people; contributing to our civic life both We want to ensure that the people and
in the City and further afield; and delivering places we support are the best they can
social inclusion and social mobility for all. be. Working in partnership with all our
To be world-class, to achieve our ambitions, communities, institutions and spaces, we will
we’ll need to work collaboratively as one shape a fantastic five years ahead, together.
team, breaking down organisational silos to
solve the important issues of the day. We
will proactively create new partnerships and Ian Thomas CBE

5
 Who
we are

6
Our mission
The City of London Corporation is the governing
body of the Square Mile dedicated to a vibrant and
thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable
London within a globally-successful UK.

About the City of London Corporation

The City of London Corporation (CoLC) looks after the
City of London (‘the City’ or ‘Square Mile’) on behalf of all
who live, study, work, and visit; providing modern, efficient,
and high-quality local services and policing for all.
We have a long history, a unique wildlife habitats, sites of scientific
constitution, our own Lord Mayor, and interest and national nature reserves.
a dedicated police service keeping the They are protected from being built
City safe. on by special legislation.
Our independent and non-partisan We are the port health authority
political voice and convening power for London, the largest port health
enables us to promote the interests authority in the UK. We protect
of people and organisations across public health by preventing infectious
London and the UK, and play a valued disease, ensuring water quality,
role on the world-stage. making vessel inspections, and
We aim to support London’s enforcing environmental controls.
communities through responsible The City Corporation provides local
business, charitable giving, improving government services for our 8,600
the capital’s air quality, providing residents (Census 2021) and 614,500
education and skills for young people, City workers (Office for National
and delivering affordable housing Statistics 2022) based in the Square
across London. Mile. To be truly representative of
We protect and conserve 19 major its population, businesses and other
green spaces in London and Southeast organisations registered in the Square
England – including Hampstead Mile are entitled to nominate voters
Heath and Epping Forest – and to City elections so that, alongside
approximately 180 smaller ones in the registered residents, they can have a say
Square Mile. They include important on the way the City Corporation is run.

7
 Our
impact
and
key facts

8
 Our people

There are

8,600
residents living in
the City of London. 1 in 52
UK workers are
employed in the City.

There are

614,500
workers
in the City of London.

Welcoming millions
of domestic and
international visitors to the Square Mile each year.
9
Our broader remit
We work alongside our residents to deliver excellent
services and ensure people live in good quality housing
and live independent and healthy lives. This includes
housing, education, safeguarding, care and support
for children and adults, public health, libraries, leisure
and adult education. Our work also focuses on building
new affordable homes and providing well maintained,
safe homes on our existing properties (including the
Barbican Estate, Middlesex Street Estate, Golden Lane
Estate and ten other estates situated in six different
London boroughs).​

We improve air quality, enforce trading standards,

combat noise pollution and deliver licensing
regulations. Our responsibilities in the Square Mile
include planning and development, building control,
highways and transportation, cleansing and waste,
environmental health, licensing and trading standards.

The City of London Police is a local service with

a national role. It polices a unique local area and
is also the National Lead Force for Fraud, and the
National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for
economic, cyber and business crime. As such,
it has responsibilities to keep both the City and
the UK safe from crime.

10
Since 1856, we have operated the City of London
Cemetery and Crematorium, a stunning 200-acre
Grade 1 listed landscape and one of the largest
municipal cemeteries in Europe.

We are the London Port Health Authority for the tidal

River Thames, patrolling 94 miles of Britain’s busiest
waterway from Teddington to the outer Thames
Estuary, and undertaking controls on imported
food and feed that enter through numerous ports
along the river.

We operate markets, providing a vital link to the food

supply chain for London and the South of England.
The markets move 1 million tonnes of produce every
year, contribute around £590 million in gross value
added (GVA) to the UK economy, and support 10,250
jobs directly and through the associated supply chains.

We are a committed charity trustee of the City Bridge

Foundation and our Natural Environment charities.

We manage the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre,

and our staff look after around 14,000 dogs and
cats, 400 horses, 150,000 reptiles, 1,000 birds and
25 million fish that are imported through Heathrow
Airport each year. We are also the Animal Health
Authority for Greater London, and we undertake animal
establishment licensing for other local authorities.

11
Sustainability and
natural environment

We look after 11,000 acres of natural

habitats in London and the Home
Counties, which is approximately the
same size as 20 Hyde Parks. These
remove an estimated 16,000 tonnes of
CO2 per year, equivalent to 44% of the
City Corporation’s carbon footprint.

The estimated value of the benefits

delivered by the natural capital assets
quantified across the open spaces portfolio
is £126.8 million annually, with a present
value of £3.6 billion over 50 years.

Our green spaces are home to

more than 58,000 ancient trees
and hundreds of endangered
species. They receive over
47 million visits annually.

12
 The City is lead authority for
hazardous waste collection across
London, arranging for around
5,600 collections of asbestos and
chemical waste from the public
sector, schools and charities.

Our cleansing service provides

waste and recycling collections for
7,000 residential properties, using
the first fully electric fleet of refuse
collection vehicles in the country.

Walbrook Wharf waste transfer

station handles around 50,000
tonnes of general waste a year.
The majority is from commercial
premises with 2,500 tonnes from
household and street cleansing.

Waste is transported down-river in barges

powered by biofuel to an energy-from-
waste facility. This saves 5,500 vehicle
movements a year, reducing air and noise
pollution and road traffic congestion,
and re-emphasises City Corporation’s
commitment to the revival of the River
Thames as a green highway for London.

13
Culture
and heritage

• We are one of the Country's largest funders of culture,

investing £130 million every year in heritage and
cultural activities.
• Guildhall School of Music and Drama is ranked number
one out of 12 in arts, drama and music by the Complete
University Guide 2023.
• The Guildhall Art Gallery displays more than 250 portraits,
paintings and sculptures and is free of charge to visit.
• We run London’s archive service, collecting, preserving,
sharing and celebrating the stories of London and
Londoners with local, national and international
audiences. We safeguard over 100km of records on
businesses, schools, hospitals, charities, and many other
organisations and people from London.

14 ©London Metropolitan Archives

• The Barbican Centre holds thousands of events for the public
each year and opens its doors for approximately 1.5 million
visitors annually.
• We manage, maintain and conserve 877 heritage assets,
including scheduled monuments, listed buildings, historic open
spaces, churchyards and cemeteries, ceremonial furnishings,
and historic carriages.
• Our natural environment provides a wide range of access and
recreation opportunities, including miles of walking and cycling
trails, open water swimming facilities, golf, tennis, football, rugby,
bowls, and numerous play areas. It is also rich in cultural heritage,
including two museums, a visitor centre, ancient hill forts and
a wide range of other archaeological features.

15
Our community

We are the strategic housing

authority for the City of
London and a landlord
responsible for over

1,900
social tenanted properties
and over 950 leaseholder
We provide over properties across London.

1,800
social housing units on 12 estates across
six London Boroughs and the City.

Our open spaces provide

a unique learning place for

38,000
Our children’s social care services are rated

people from schools,

‘outstanding’
colleges and youth groups. by Ofsted.

16
Passionate and proud
volunteers help our natural
environments thrive giving over Volunteer groups play an active

20,000
role in helping us manage our
City Gardens – approximately

volunteer hours a year.

180 sites
throughout the City and beyond
– contributing around 4,500
volunteer hours each year.

1
2
Three community libraries –
including the award-winning
Barbican Music Library – attract
3
288,000 Our care-related quality
of life score for adults is
visits annually.
ranked first
within peer group and of 150 councils.

17
Education and
lifelong learning

18 ©London Metropolitan Archives

• Five out of the ten City of London Academies Trust schools hold
an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating, and two are rated ‘good’ with
‘outstanding features’.
• City of London School for Girls was the top performing independent
school for GCSE results in 2022 and 2023.
• The City of London Freemen’s School is consistently placed among
the top five co-educational boarding schools in the UK based on
A-Level outcomes.
• The City of London School is ranked as ‘excellent’ by the
Independent Schools’ Inspectorate for both quality of pupils’
academic and other achievements, and for quality of pupils’
personal development.
• In 2023, we took on seventy apprentices across City Corporation
and partner organisations.

19
Economic
contributions
and assets

City jobs have grown over

13% since pre-pandemic 2019
to 2022, with nearly 73,000
more jobs than in 2019.

The Salisbury Square development

is creating a new civic hub, including
a headquarters for the City of London
Police and a new modern facility for
HM Courts and Tribunals Service in the
heart of London’s legal centre, creating
49,000 square metres of space.

Relocating the Museum of London will

enable more people from London and
around the world to visit. This will create a
world-class learning experience, capable of
hosting blockbuster exhibitions and events in
28,500 square metres of space.

20
 The City accounts for

1 in every 5
financial services jobs in Great Britain.

A solar farm in Dorset

constructed through a power
purchase agreement (PPA) has
reduced energy costs for the City
Corporation by £20 million
We manage around 400 per annum. It is the first of its kind
revenue projects with a value of in the UK within the public sector.
more than £30 million.

The City generates nearly

£85 billion in economic outputs
annually, supporting the UK economy.

25% of City Corporation new entrant

apprenticeship opportunities, provided through
a centrally funded budget of £1.4 million,
are reserved for individual residents of local
and neighbouring authorities aged 18 to 24
who are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The City also contributes to services across the UK,

generating £1.1 billion in business rates alone.

Property fund management focuses on maximising

rental income and long-term performance for City Fund
and City Estates assets, which total approximately
£3 billion in value across 250 properties. Portfolio
performance exceeds the industry benchmark (MSCI
total returns) over a 5, 10 and 28 year time frame.

21
Our responsibilities
in the Square Mile

22
Key

Blackfriars Bridge 1 Artizan Street City Bridge

Millennium Bridge 2 Library 16 Foundation 26

Southwark Bridge 3 Small Business City of London

Research and Magistrates Court 27
London Bridge 4 Enterprise Centre Guildhall 28
Tower Bridge 5 (SBREC) 17
Mansion House -
Shoe Lane Library 18 Office & Home of the
Lord Mayor of the
City of London 29
Central Criminal
Barbican Library 6 Court (The Old Bailey)
Leadenhall Market 19 - Office & Home of
Barbican Arts
the Sheriffs of the
Centre 6 Smithfield Market 20
City of London 30
City of London
Walbrook Wharf 31
Information Centre 7
City of London Police
Museum 8
Guildhall Art City of London Police
Gallery and Roman Headquarters 21
Amphitheatre 9 City of London
Bishopsgate
Guildhall School of Station 22 School 32
Music and Drama 10 City of London
City of London Police
The Monument 11 (Support services School for Girls 33
Billingsgate Roman and operational The Aldgate
House & Baths 12 functionality) 23 School 34

Bunhill Fields 24
Barbican Estate 13 Gresham College 35
City Gardens and
Golden Lane Open Spaces London Symphony
Estate 14 (all green areas) 25 Orchestra 36
Middlesex Street
Estate 15

23
Our responsibilities
outside the Square Mile

24
Key

Heathrow Animal City Junior School 16 Ashtead Common 26

Reception Centre 1
City of London Burnham Beeches 27
Keats House 2 Academy Islington 16 Cemetery and
London Metropolitan City of London Crematorium 28
Archives 3 Primary Academy Coulsdon
Islington 16 Common 29
City of London Epping Forest 30
Academy Farthing Downs and
Southwark 17 New Hill 31
Almshouses 4 City of London Hampstead Heath 32
Avondale Square 5 Academy Highgate Wood 33
Highgate Hill 18
Dron House 6 Kenley Common 34
City of London
Holloway Estate 7 Queen’s Park 35
Academy
Isleden House 8 Shoreditch Park 19 Riddlesdown 36
Southwark Estates 9 Spring Park 37
Galleywall Primary
Sydenham Hill City of London Stoke Common 38
Estate 10 Academy 20 West Ham Park 39
William Blake City of London West Wickham
Estate 11 Academy Common 40
Windsor House Highbury Grove 21
Estate 12 Redriff Primary
York Way Estate 13 City of London
Academy 22 London City
The City Academy, Airport 41
Hackney 23 London Gateway 42
Newham Collegiate Sheerness 43
Billingsgate
Market 14 Sixth Form Centre 24 Thamesport 44
New Spitalfields City of London Tilbury 45
Market 15 Freemen's School 25 Denton Office 46

City of London Corporation sponsors ten academies

across London (16-24 above - N.B. City Junior School
(16) is an Independent School).
City of London Corporation has international offices Museum of London
in four countries. Docklands 47

25
Executive summary

Context
This corporate plan informs effective use of resources and guides
planning and decision-making for the City of London Corporation
from 2024 to 2029 through six strategic outcomes, ultimately
ensuring everything we do aligns to our mission to be world-class.

Recognising we are responsible for a range of stakeholders

across multiple locations, we have developed this corporate plan
through extensive engagement. This plan does not detail the full
extent of activities we undertake, but is intended to be used by
everyone associated with the City of London Corporation.

Three lenses were used to develop the City of London

Corporation Corporate Plan 2024 to 2029. These were:

1. Global and external trends

2. Internal and external engagement
3. Business: completed, planned and ongoing
(for example, political commitments, statutory obligations
and corporate priorities)

26
Principles
This corporate plan is a living document which is being monitored,
reviewed, and refreshed during the five-year period, with progress published
annually. It includes positive outcomes which are measurable by assessing
impact. These measures will be further developed and refined during the
lifetime of the plan.
The plan also:
• ties individual contribution to our • will be implemented through
core purpose and alongside other strategies
• builds on the past and lays and programmes
a foundation for the future • is agile and iterative to respond to
• is informed by extensive new challenges
engagement and collaboration • will be embedded in all areas of work,
• recognises spheres of operation and from business plans to individual staff
influence in the Square Mile, London, reports, acting as a ‘golden thread’
nationally, and globally across the organisation

Outcomes
The six corporate plan outcomes are of equal importance, reflecting
the vast portfolios covered by the City of London Corporation. They are
interlinked and delivered through activities across the organisation and in
partnership with our stakeholders. We will strive for equity, equality, diversity
and inclusion to ensure impactful delivery.

Diverse Engaged Communities Vibrant Thriving Destination

Dynamic Economic Growth Providing Excellent Services
Leading Sustainable Environment Flourishing Public Spaces

These outcomes bring to life priorities gathered from feedback we received about our focus
during the next five years. We gathered this feedback from the diverse communities we
serve, including residents and businesses and the sectors we represent. The outcomes also
encapsulate wider considerations about safety, security, social value, sustainability, open
spaces, economic competitiveness, and accessibility.
This corporate plan is a catalyst for excellence. Combining improved ways of working,
strategy and culture, and collaborative leadership to best use resources. Our goal is for
the City of London Corporation to be a world-class organisation. One that is resilient,
responsive and agile; and seizes, leverages and creates opportunities for all.

27
Six Outcomes

Diverse Engaged Communities

Across our residents, workers, businesses,
and visitors, everyone should feel that they
belong. Connecting people of all ages
and backgrounds will help build diverse,
engaged communities that are involved in
co-creating great services and outcomes.

Leading Sustainable Environment

We have a responsibility to ensure that we act
as a leader on environmental sustainability and
strive to enhance it in all aspects of how we
work. Climate action, resilience, air quality, and
sustainability are all facets of ambitious targets
for the entire City to be net zero by 2040.

Providing Excellent Services

Supporting people to live healthy, independent
lives and achieve their ambitions is dependent
on excellent services. Vital to that continued
pursuit is enabling access to effective adult
and children’s social care, outstanding
education, lifelong learning, quality housing,
and combatting homelessness.

28
Dynamic Economic Growth
The City of London is the engine in the country’s
economy. Driving dynamic economic growth
in financial and professional services at local,
national, and international levels will create jobs,
attract investment, and support businesses
across communities and the country.

Vibrant Thriving Destination

Attracting businesses and people to a safe,
secure, and dynamic location is vital to our
future. A world-leading culture and leisure
offer is integral to creating a vibrant, thriving
destination where everyone prospers.

Flourishing Public Spaces

From our markets and cultural icons, such
as the Barbican, to our world-famous
bridges and amazing green spaces, we are
stewards of unique national assets. Major
capital investment into our civic fabric will
secure flourishing public spaces, enabling
a more successful London overall.

29
Monitoring impact

Our objective
Monitoring and reporting on corporate
performance through the use of appropriate
measures and methodologies (including objective
key results) will ensure we are on track to achieve
our stated outcomes. It will allow us to report
progress, map success, and identify areas that
may benefit from additional resource, or where
improvement may be required.

30
Our aspirations
For each outcome, an initial selection of performance
measures have been identified that will allow us to
keep track of progress. These are based on agreed
metrics that support existing strategies and business
plans, and will be refined over the lifetime of this
corporate plan.
Our aim is to track both quantitative and qualitive performance
information, and report on this annually. Reporting mechanisms
will be iterative. This is a new way of working as we develop data
maturity and capability.
Our reporting will improve year on year as more data becomes
available and is used for our analytical work, and will extend to the
development of scorecards and dashboards.
Some targets already exist within our suite of performance metrics;
the same is true for benchmarking and SMART measures. Once
we have sufficient data and have improved our data management
capabilities, we will include a more expansive suite of comparative
metrics in this corporate plan.

31
Diverse
Engaged
Communities

Diverse Engaged Communities

Across our residents, workers,
businesses, and visitors, everyone
should feel that they belong.
Connecting people of all ages
and backgrounds will help build
diverse, engaged communities
that are involved in co-creating
great services and outcomes.

32
 OUTCOME

©London Metropolitan Archives 33

Context and impact

City of London Police is

committed to working
with communities on all
aspects of neighbourhood
policing and ensuring
people feel safe
in the Square Mile through
initiatives such as Street
Safe and Ask for Angela.

We actively promote
participation in our
democratic
process,
encouraging people
to stand for election,
to vote in our city-
wide elections, and to
put questions to their
elected representatives.

34
 We continue to engage
SMEs, including through
a survey, to inform a
new SME strategy.

We always undertake
statutory public
consultation
on planning applications
within the City.

Our Community
Infrastructure Levy
Neighbourhood
Fund distributes We help communities
over and networks become
£1 million better connected
in grants annually through The City
across the City. Belonging Project.

Our planning system

is helping to create
free, inclusive
cityscapes.

35
Our actions

1. Engage with all our communities across the City,

working to increase participation in co-creating
and delivering services.
2. Listen to our communities’ views on crime and
disorder. Working with partners, we will provide
safeguarding and support to people who are
vulnerable or find themselves in a vulnerable situation.
3. Conduct effective resident panels and problem-
solving neighbourhood policing.
4. Increase the electorate registered to vote in City-wide
elections pre and post 2025.
5. Increase the number of candidates standing for
election in the City-wide elections in 2025 and 2029.
6. Emphasise inclusion as an important aspect of new
development in our City Plan 2040.
7. Reset City Corporation’s relationship with residents
including through regular City Question Time sessions.

36
Performance measures

1. Increase number of voters at 2025

and 2029 elections.
2. Increase number of candidates at
2025 and 2029 elections.
3. Increase number of contested
wards at 2025 and 2029 elections.
4. Increase engagement with workers
and resident communities.

©London Metropolitan Archives 37

Dynamic
Economic
Growth

Dynamic Economic Growth

The City of London is the engine
in the country’s economy. Driving
dynamic economic growth
in financial and professional
services at local, national, and
international levels will create
jobs, attract investment, and
support businesses across
communities and the country.

38
OUTCOME

39
Context and impact

The City drives

the economy,
generating over

£85 billion
in economic
output annually.

Financial and
professional services
employ over

2.4 million
people across the
country with two-thirds
outside of London.

There are

614,500 workers
in the City of London, or 1 in every
52 Great British workers. City jobs
have grown over 13% since pre-
pandemic 2019 to 2022.

40
 Our ground-breaking Vision for
Economic Growth report could
help unlock

£225 billion
of investment through insurance
reforms, pension reforms and
net zero investments to drive
economic growth across the UK.

The industry produced

£278 billion
of economic output in
2022, 12% of the entire
UK’s economic output,
and contributed nearly
£100 billion in tax revenue.
The City of London Police is the

National Lead Force

for fraud and the National Police
Chiefs’ Council lead for economic
and cyber-crime, providing a single
point of contact into policing for all
the partners involved in the fraud
response – from banking to the
Home Office.

More than

98% of businesses
in the City are SMEs. We provide a
range of support, information and
advice that encourages and enables
their growth.

41
Our actions

1. Drive economic growth and competitiveness by

implementing the Vision for Economic Growth,
raising investment levels, becoming a digital-first
economy, and anchoring the UK as a leader in
sustainable finance.
2. Maintain London's position as the leading global
financial and professional services centre by
retaining a world class business environment.
3. Promote the UK as a place that is open, innovative,
and sustainable.
4. Ensure that the City has the safest, most secure
business environment in the world.
5. The City of London Police will continue to protect
the UK against economic and cyber crime,
setting the national strategy and coordinating
the operational response. Additionally, we will
be a leading global centre for sustainable finance
and expertise.
6. Maximise our global reach in key advanced and
high-growth markets.
7. Use our convening power effectively to support and
represent the sector.

42
Performance measures

1. Retain a number 1 ranking for the UK

in the Competitiveness Benchmarking
Composite Score.
2. Retain a number 1 ranking for London in the
Global Green Finance Index (GGFI).
3. Achieve positive outcomes in the City of London
Police’s work protecting the UK from the threat
of fraud, economic, cyber and business crime.
4. Increase weekday worker numbers in the
Square Mile.

43
Leading
Sustainable
Environment

Leading Sustainable
Environment
We have a responsibility to
ensure that we act as a leader
on environmental sustainability
and strive to enhance it in all
aspects of how we work. Climate
action, resilience, air quality, and
sustainability are all facets of
ambitious targets for the entire
City to be net zero by 2040.

44
OUTCOME

45
Context and impact

We have cut our annual

carbon emissions by

31%
and energy consumption
by 21% between 2018 to
2019, and 2021 to 2022.

46
 Our open spaces remove around

16,000
tonnes of carbon from the
atmosphere a year, equivalent to
44% of the City Corporation’s annual
carbon footprint in its own operations.

Since 2018, we have been using

100%
renewable electricity.

Our Climate Action Strategy – with its

£68 million
investment – commits us to achieving
net zero carbon emissions in our own
operations by 2027.

47
Our actions

1. Continue our Climate Action Strategy work to

bring the City Corporation’s direct emissions in our
operations to net zero by 2027.
2. Work in partnership to deliver a net zero Square Mile
by 2040.
3. Ensure City development minimises carbon and
meets the highest standards for sustainability.
4. Improve energy efficiency by retrofitting our
buildings and using renewable energy.
5. Create a climate resilient City by reducing the risk
of overheating and flooding.
6. Integrate climate considerations into all
our decisions.
7. Require increases in biodiversity from development.
8. Enhance carbon removal in our green spaces.
9. Implement a Circular Economy Strategy and
embed circular economy principles into our
building projects.

48
Performance measures

1. Reach net zero in our direct emissions in our

operations by 2027.
2. Reduce emissions in line with 2040 net
zero target.
3. Progress towards World Health Organisation air
quality guidelines.
4. Reduce energy consumption and increase use
of renewable energy.

49
Vibrant
Thriving
Destination

Vibrant Thriving Destination

Attracting businesses and people
to a safe, secure, and dynamic
location is vital to our future.
A world-leading culture and
leisure offer is integral to creating
a vibrant, thriving destination
where everyone prospers.

50
 OUTCOME

©Clive Totman 51
Context and impact
The City Corporation is one of
the largest funders of heritage
and cultural activities in the UK,
investing over
£130 million annually.

The City is the birthplace

of London with a
unique and diverse offer:
unrivalled history and heritage,
world-class arts and culture, and
outstanding restaurants, cafes,
hotels, pubs and bars.

52
 The City of London Police work
hard to ensure the Square Mile is a
safe and welcoming
place for everyone, which is crucial to a vibrant,
thriving and prosperous environment that works
for residents, visitors, business and leisure.

We are one of the nation’s most significant

cultural guardians
– the home of the world-leading and
internationally renowned Guildhall School
of Music and Drama, the Barbican Centre,
and Tower Bridge.

We are using our planning and

licensing powers to create new,
inclusive public spaces
that work well for everyone,
including hospitality, leisure
offerings, cultural experiences,
and better signage.

We also seek to facilitate growth

through our planning policies
which aim for office development of the
highest quality,
ensuring that offices are designed to
provide sustainable, flexible floorspace
that meets the varied needs of occupiers.

53
Our actions
1. Cement the City as London’s central business district
where businesses want to be and where workers,
residents and visitors want to spend time.
2. Continue to promote crime prevention in the City of
London, and tackle local crime and antisocial behaviour
through the Safer City Partnership.
3. Make the City a thriving, seven-day-a-week destination
through our flagship Destination City programme, and
build economic prosperity through flourishing retail,
leisure and business.
4. Be home to an exciting all-year-round events programme.
5. Grow the City’s cultural offer through new development.
6. Strengthen our cultural offer through partnerships with
brands, the City’s Business Improvement Districts,
and landowners.
7. Boost the supply of skilled workers for sustainable
buildings, enabling central London to decarbonise its
built environment at scale.
8. Undertake a new city occupiers and investment study to
assess the short and long-term demand for office space
and amenities and attract major tenants and occupiers.
9. Help start-up business and SMEs to scale and grow
through our SME strategy.
10. Adopt the City Plan 2040 for sustainable growth
and development direction.
11. Provide more space for walking and making the City’s
streets more accessible.
12. Deliver the licensing service within the context of the
‘Vibrant Thriving Destination’ outcome, considering the
views of our residents, businesses, workers and visitors.

54
Performance measures

1. Reduce local and neighbourhood crime and improve

confidence in the City of London Police.
2. Increase visitor numbers, expenditure, and visits
to our cultural attractions.
3. Increase road safety, decrease motor traffic,
and encourage environmentally sustainable forms
of transport.
4. Deliver 3:1 return on investment on growth bid
budget through new partnerships.
5. Increase provision of office space in the Square
Mile, decreasing empty office floor space.

55
 Providing
Excellent
Services

Providing Excellent Services

Supporting people to live healthy,
independent lives and achieve
their ambitions is dependent
on excellent services. Vital
to that continued pursuit is
enabling access to effective
adult and children’s social care,
outstanding education, lifelong
learning, quality housing, and
combatting homelessness.

56
OUTCOME

57
Context and impact
We have a joint public health
team with Hackney, delivering
services commissioned
to improve the health and
wellbeing of the City’s
different populations, and
focused strategies,
like our Carers Strategy,
capturing our specific aims and
driving forward the work we do.

We commission the City

of London Outreach
Team service, delivered
by Thames Reach, to
support rough
sleepers
into permanent and
safe accommodation.

We run the City of London

Cemetery and Crematorium,
operate the Heathrow Animal
Reception Centre, provide
animal health services London-
wide, and as the London
Port Health Authority, we
undertake controls
on imported food and feed
through London’s ports.

58
We invest We have a
£700,000 annually unique family
in the Grange Road hostel run by St of schools
Mungo’s in Southwark, helping some
comprising a maintained
of the Square Mile’s most vulnerable
primary school,
rough sleepers with complex needs.
sponsored academies in
London boroughs, and
We work to independent schools.
support the City’s
most vulnerable
and those who are facing hardship
by tackling health inequalities,
providing safe and secure homes,
delivering education to children
and adults, and delivering
services enhancing the welfare
of the City’s communities. We do
this by maximising the use and
reach of our assets and through
partnerships with health, policing, We provide a
and neighbouring authorities.
vital link
in the food supply chain
for London and the
South of England by
operating food markets.
We are a social landlord with
12 housing estates
across the City of London and six
neighbouring London boroughs.

We manage five libraries

which we have promoted as
warm spaces
in winter to help people facing
rising energy and living costs.

59
Our actions
1. Support others to provide outstanding education, lifelong
learning, and skills.
2. Deliver new social rented homes and focus on housing
management quality and service standards.
3. Improve housing management, communication and
engagement across our social housing portfolio and
the Barbican Estate.
4. Complete a refurbishment programme for the Grade II
listed Golden Lane Estate.
5. Promote the health, wellbeing, and quality of life
of people of all ages.
6. Focus on equality, diversity and inclusion to improve
social mobility and reduce inequalities, including
health inequalities.
7. Respond to new adult social care legislation and
inspection requirements.
8. Continue, through our Carers Strategy, to provide
support to carers.
9. Protect and promote public, animal and environmental
health (including at our borders) and consumer protection.
10. Provide our Licensing Service, considering the views
of our residents, workers and visitors with a business-
friendly approach.
11. Improve air quality and control excessive noise in the
Square Mile.
12. Provide a responsive street cleaning service.
13. Use libraries and community spaces to support learning,
tackle social isolation, and build resilience.
14. Implement a new homelessness strategy and help prevent
homelessness by reviewing and revising the supported
accommodation pathway.

60
Performance measures

1. Maintain high quality services, including

children’s and adult social care.
2. Deliver high quality housing, including
meeting the Decent Homes Standard and
energy efficiency standards, and increase
satisfaction with our housing repair service.
3. Improve educational attainment and equity.

©Clive Totman 61
Flourishing
Public
Spaces

Flourishing Public Spaces

From our markets and cultural
icons, such as the Barbican, to
our world-famous bridges and
amazing green spaces, we are
stewards of unique national
assets. Major capital investment
into our civic fabric will secure
flourishing public spaces, enabling
a more successful London overall.

62
OUTCOME

63
Context and impact

We invest over
£38 million
a year managing open
spaces, which attract over
47 million visits annually.

We are creating a
new civic hub
at Salisbury Square in the heart
of London’s legal centre to be
the headquarters of the City of
London Police and a flagship
combined court for His Majesty’s
Courts and Tribunals Service.

64
 We are reinvigorating a part
of the City at Smithfield with a

We manage over vibrant cultural and

11,000 acres commercial offer
and providing a new home for
of open space in London and
the Museum of London.
southeast England, including
Burnham Beeches, Epping
Forest, and Hampstead Heath.

We are co-locating London’s markets

– Billingsgate and Smithfield – in
purpose-built facilities at Dagenham
Dock to secure their long-term future,
with an ambition to relocate New
Spitalfields at a later date, bringing over
10,000 jobs
and investment to Greater London.

We are the
City Bridge Foundation
sole trustee supports over
of City Bridge Foundation, which is a 500 organisations
world-class bridge owner, and responsible
across London at any one time
for five Thames crossings, and London’s
and awards over £30 million a
biggest independent charity funder.
year to charitable organisations
across the capital, funding
causes from child poverty
to female equality. It
has made an additional
£200 million
of funding available to 2026.

65
Our actions

1. Complete the development at Salisbury Square,

creating a new civic hub in the Square Mile,
including a headquarters for the City of London
Police and a new modern facility for HM Courts
and Tribunals Service, combining Magistrates,
Crown and Civil Courts in the heart of London’s
legal centre.
2. Relocate Smithfield meat market and Billingsgate
fish market to a purpose-built site at Dagenham.
3. Relocate the London Museum to the former
Smithfield market buildings. This will help create
a world-class learning experience and tell the
story of the capital in more compelling and
innovative ways.
4. Deliver a major project to refurbish the Barbican
Arts Centre.
5. Deliver the St Paul’s Gyratory project to achieve
better traffic management and increased
pedestrianisation.
6. Ensure our open spaces and historic sites are
thriving, accessible and enrich people’s lives.

66
Performance measures

1. Deliver regeneration and

redevelopment projects.
2. Increase in natural environment biodiversity.
3. Optimise our performance as a committed
trustee for all our charities, including City
Bridge Foundation.

67
Annex: Key strategies
and programmes
City Corporation owns many sector, department and subject-
specific strategies, programmes and plans. Those listed below
contain metrics key to measuring and monitoring performance
in the City of London Corporate Plan 2024 to 2029.

As strategies are updated and further metrics to deliver the plan

outcomes are developed, these will be absorbed into the corporate
plan performance monitoring framework as appropriate.

Existing strategies

Air Quality Strategy 2019-2024 Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy Strategic Plan 2023-2030
2022-2025 Homeless and Rough Sleeping Strategy
Biodiversity Action Plan 2021-2026 2023-2027

Bridging London Strategy 2020-2045 Investment Property Strategy (reviewed

annually with a rolling 5-year horizon)
Children’s and Young People’s Plan
2022-2025 Library Strategy 2021-2023
(reviewed 2024)
City of London Police Policing Plan
2022-2025 Noise Strategy 2016-2026

City of London School Strategic Vision People Strategy 2024-2029

2019-2024 Procurement Strategy 2020-2024
Climate Action Strategy 2020-2027 Safer City Partnership 2022-2025
Competitiveness Strategy 2021-2025 Social Mobility Strategy 2018-2028
Destination City 2022-2025 Square Mile Sport Strategy 2023-2030
Early Help Strategy 2023-2026 Transport Strategy 2024-2044
Education, Skills and Cultural and
Creative Learning Strategies 2019-2024

68
Strategies and plans under development

Adult Social Care Strategy Equality Objectives

Barbican Strategic Framework Natural Environment Strategy
Circular Economy Strategy Policing Plan 2025-2028
City of London Joint Health and Small and Medium Enterprises
Wellbeing Strategy 2024-2027 (SME) Strategy
City Plan 2040 Social Housing Management Plan
Digital, Data and Technology Strategy Utility Infrastructure Strategy
2024-2029

Selected major City Corporation projects and programmes

identified as core to the corporate plan
• Area Based Healthy Streets Plans • Guildhall Yard East (City of
• Barbican Renewal London Police)

• City Cluster Programme • Housing Delivery

• City of London Boys School - • Income Generation

Phases 1, 2 and 3 • Operational Property Review
• Climate Action and Net • Pedestrian Priority Programme
Zero ambitions • Salisbury Square development
• Cool Streets and Greening • Smithfield and Billingsgate Markets
Programme Co-Location
• Cycling Programme • Smithfield redevelopment
• Delivery of excellent public services • St. Paul’s Gyratory
• Destination City Transformation Project
• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) • Vision for Economic Growth
• Freeman’s School Strategic Intent • Wanstead Park Ponds
2023-2030

69
Corporate Strategy & Performance Team
Town Clerk’s Department
City of London Corporation
PO Box 270 | Guildhall | London, EC2P 2EJ
T: +44 (0) 20 7606 3030 | E: contact.centre@cityoflondon.gov.uk