City of London Corporation
The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the local authority of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Kingdom's financial sector.
Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London
City of London Corporation
since 11 November 2023
since February 2023
since 5 May 2022
100 Common Councilmen
25 Aldermen
- Independent (78)
- Temple & Farringdon Together (10)
- Castle Baynard Independents (7)
- Labour (5)
Privileges Committee, General Purposes Committee
- Audit and Risk Management Committee
- Barbican Centre Board
- Barbican Residential Committee
- Board of Governors of the City of London Freemen's School
- Board of Governors of the City of London School
- Board of Governors of the City of London School for Girls
- Board of Governors of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
- Capital Buildings Committee
- Community & Children's Services Committee
- Culture, Heritage and Libraries Committee
- Education Board
- Epping Forest & Commons Committee
- Establishment Committee
- Finance Committee
- Freedom Applications Committee
- Gresham (City Side) Committee
- Hampstead Heath, Highgate Wood and Queen's Park Committee
- Health and Wellbeing Board
- Investment Committee
- Licensing Committee
- Livery Committee
- Local Government Pensions Board
- Markets Committee
- Open Spaces and City Gardens
- Planning and Transportation Committee
- Police Committee
- Policy and Resources Committee
- Port Health & Environmental Services Committee
- Standards Committee
- The City Bridge Trust Committee
- West Ham Park Committee
Varies – individual mandate, up to 6-year term of office
In 2006, the name was changed from Corporation of London as the corporate body needed to be distinguished from the geographical area to avoid confusion with the wider London local government, the Greater London Authority.[4] It is a corporation in the sense of being a municipal corporation rather than a company; it is deemed to be the citizens and other eligible parties acting as one corporate body to manage the City's affairs.
Both businesses and residents of the City, or "Square Mile", are entitled to vote in corporation elections. In addition to its functions as the local authority (analogous to those undertaken by the 32 boroughs that administer the rest of Greater London) the City of London Corporation takes responsibility for supporting the financial services industry and representing its interests.[5] The corporation's structure includes the Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, the Court of Common Council, and the Freemen and Livery of the City.
The "Liberties and Customs" of the City of London are guaranteed in Magna Carta's clause IX, which remains in statute.[6]
Local authority role[edit]
Local government legislation often makes special provision for the City to be treated as a London borough and for the Common Council to act as a local authority. The Corporation does not have general authority over the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple, two of the Inns of Court adjoining the west of the City which are historic extra-parochial areas, but many statutory functions of the Corporation are extended into these two areas.
The chief executive of the administrative side of the Corporation holds the ancient office of Town Clerk of London.
The work of the City of London Corporation is primarily carried out through a range of committees:[31]
The Lord Mayor of London and the two sheriffs are chosen by liverymen meeting at Common Hall. Sheriffs, who serve as assistants to the lord mayor, are chosen on Midsummer Day. The lord mayor, who must have previously been a sheriff, is chosen on Michaelmas. Both the lord mayor and the sheriffs are chosen for terms of one year.
The lord mayor fulfills several roles:
The ancient and continuing office of Lord Mayor of London (with responsibility for the City of London) should not be confused with the office of Mayor of London (responsible for the whole of Greater London and created in 2000).
Education[edit]
The City of London has a single primary school,[46] The Aldgate School (ages 4 to 11),[47] which is voluntary aided by the Church of England and maintained by the Education Service of the City of London.
City of London residents may send their children to schools in neighbouring local education authorities (LEAs). Some secondary school children enrol in schools in Islington, Tower Hamlets, Westminster or Southwark. Children who are permanent residents of the City of London are eligible for transfer to the City of London Academy, Southwark, a state-funded secondary school sponsored by the City of London located in Bermondsey. The City of London Corporation also sponsors City Academy, Hackney and City of London Academy Islington.
The City of London controls three other private schools – the City of London School (for boys), the City of London School for Girls, and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School. The Lord Mayor also holds the posts of Rector of City University and President of Gresham College, an educational institution for advanced study.
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is owned and funded by the Corporation.
Criticism[edit]
Writing in The Guardian, George Monbiot claimed that the corporation's power "helps to explain why regulation of the banks is scarcely better than it was before the crash, why there are no effective curbs on executive pay and bonuses and why successive governments fail to act against the UK's dependent tax havens" and suggested that its privileges could not withstand proper "public scrutiny".[48]
In December 2012, following criticism that it was insufficiently transparent about its finances, the City of London Corporation revealed that its "City's Cash" account – an endowment fund built up over the past 800 years that it says is used "for the benefit of London as a whole"[49] – holds more than £1.3bn. As of March 2016, it had net assets of £2.3bn.[50] The fund collects money made from the corporation's property and investment earnings.[51]
