Black Cab Ban At Bank Junction Divides City Council, But Graham Packham Is So Boring His Speech Defending It Sent Michael Hudson To Sleep

When we named and shamed those who voted for the demolition of the Museum of London and Bastion House in a recent post, this list served to highlight some long term Guildhall establishment supporters whose names had not yet featured in our blog headlines. We are trying to rectify such oversights but finding anything interesting to say about certain of these figures can be difficult, and this is especially true of deputy chair of planning Graham Packham – whose reputation as the most boring member of the council is firmly established, despite stiff competition from the likes of Keith Bottomley.

We’ll return to retired PwC IT director Graham David Packham shortly but before we do so we need to mention that the daytime (7am -7pm weekdays) black cab ban at Bank Junction, which has been in place since 2017, has improved safety and reduced injuries and deaths. Nonetheless it is a contentious issue at the City council – and not only due to lobbying by Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association.

As already reported by My London News, the council is reconsidering the ban, first at a meeting of the Planning and Transportation Committee on Thursday, 16 May 2024, then at a full council session – officers have recommended it is retained. The recent flurry of debate on this subject reminded us that at the end of last year, Packham made one of his typically dull speeches on the matter which sent his former fellow officer at the Castle Baynard Independents Party (CBIP), Michael Hudson, to sleep. We assume Hudson stepped down from his CBIP office because he briefly lost his Castle Baynard ward seat a couple of years ago.

Hudson nodded off when the issue of the black cab ban at Bank Junction was debated in a council meeting on 7/12/23, beginning at 16:45 of this recording. Following on from James Thomson and Timothy Hailes speaking in favour of lifting the Bank black cab ban, deputy chair of planning Graham Packham put the opposing case in a speech at 32:01 but was so uninspiring his close ally Michael Hudson sitting behind him fell asleep: you can watch Hudson nod off as the speech progresses. Near the end of it, Hudson wakes up, sees that Packham is still speaking, and promptly returns to sleep.

At 37:14 Martha Grekos, with the flair of a professional advocate, put a much more compelling case against black cabs at Bank Junction. This seemed to rile Tijs Broeke, who promptly put forward a procedural motion to terminate debate at 41:00, seconded by Edward Lord.

Before returning to the issue of the black cab ban, let’s deal with Packham who may be dull but still occupies an influential position as deputy chair of planning. Since Packham attained that position the hospitality section on his register of interests has become filled with meals hosted by developers’ lobby group the City Property Association (rendered simply as CPA, presumably to keep the connection obscure to those not in the know). The planning committee chair Shravan Joshi‘s register of interests is also filled with entries for the CPA – and the CPA, as we have outlined in previous posts, is both deeply and problematically intertwined with the ‘leadership’ of the City council.

Missing from Packham’s register of interests is the fact he is leader, nominating officer and deputy treasurer, of the Castle Baynard Independents Party. There is no mention of this on Packham’s current or past registers of interest despite these details having been recorded with the electoral commission. Current CBIP treasurer and deputy nominating officer John Griffiths doesn’t mention his involvement with this political organisation on his register of interests either – and we have pointed out previously that none of those connected to the CBIP seem to have ever included this political party in their City council register of interests.

We also had cause to cover Packham – without featuring his name in a headline – in relation to his activities during the last Castle Baynard aldermanic election, where the candidate he backed lost despite Packham using his then position as ward deputy to undermine the winning candidate at hustings (scroll down link). Packham may be boring but we shouldn’t let that obscure the fact that he falls short when it comes to the standards we ought to expect local politicians to uphold.

Moving back to the black cab ban, we want to stress that this is something that divides Guildhall establishment supporters and has become something of a political football and even the subject of several wardmote resolutions. Guildhall establishment critics are largely united in their support for this pedestrian and cyclist safety measure.

A number of small business vote wards that often have no Wardmote resolutions to present to the full council (because the business voters in those wards are so disengaged) have suddenly and simultaneously produced resolutions – in fact the same one, which is to allow black cabs back into Bank Junction at all times, rather than just at night and on the weekends. The resolutions are obviously a ploy by Tim Hailes and his cohort at the council to create the impression that there’s a groundswell of opinion in favour of their proposal, and to induce members to go with the supposed herd, since the consequences of dissent are unpleasant.

The wards concerned are Bassishaw, Candlewick, Cordwainer, Langbourn, Lime Street, Tower and Walbrook. We understand that in Tower ward the resolution was not proposed by a voter in the ward, as it should be. Marianne Fredericks, who opposes lifting the daytime black cab ban at Bank Junction, found herself ambushed on this issue at the wardmote by fellow councillors. Chris Hayward appears to have changed sides on this issue, abandoning the officers’ position and joining Hailes. Watch his uneasy and lengthy attempt at a justification at 1:24:40 of this recording of a full council meeting on 21/4/22.

The issue of the black cab ban at Bank Junction was also discussed at a full council meeting on 21/4/22. At 1:09:15 of the recording of that meeting, Tim Hailes proposed a motion on the issue. The opening words of his speech were: “Well, well, well, what a whirlwind road trip – I nearly said something else – bringing this motion to the Court has been”. That would not have made sense to the viewing public until Oliver Sells, then Deputy Chair of Planning, made some pointed remarks 14 minutes later (quoted below). All members, though, would have recognised what Hailes was referring to.

During an email storm among members in the days before the meeting, Hailes was alleged to have linked his support for individual members standing for election to various committees with their support for his motion. This was seen as excessively crass politicking even by the Guildhall establishment. It explains the awkward tone and face saving content of his speech. When Sells spoke to second an amendment to Hailes’ motion that had been proposed by Alastair Moss, then Chair of Planning, Sells deplored (at 1:23:26) “some inappropriate emails” and declared that “I hope we will never again see the kind of material that I received on Easter Saturday in relation to this”.

What remains unclear is why Hailes has taken it upon himself to lead on this issue, as Bank Junction is not in his ward. The reason sometimes given, championing access for people with disabilities and ensuring women’s safety, sounds like a pretext rather than a reason. Hailes and other Bank black cab ban lifting supporters have no track record of caring about the disadvantaged, as evidenced by their dismissive attitude towards those on the Corporation’s dilapidated social housing estates. Women’s safety is mostly a night issue and black cabs are allowed into Bank Junction then.

One view is that Hailes has been trying to make himself relevant in the council in the hope of boosting his chances of becoming Lord Mayor, having been sheriff seven years ago and seen himself overtaken for the top job by alders who have become sheriff after him. If so, his faux pas before the full council meeting in April 2022 can’t have helped him, as there is an expectation among members that mayoral candidates at least appear to be squeaky clean.

A curious sidelight on that April 2022 full council meeting was Alastair Moss boldly declaring at 1:19:44 that “everyone is coming back to the City”. That was more than two years ago – how wrong he was…