Did council send a message by flatly rejecting a critical report from its volunteer advisory committee?

Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025 (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

The former chair of an advisory committee worries about the underlying message sent by a council committee that “No Further Action Be Taken” regarding a report from the Integrated Transportation Community Advisory Committee (ITCAC) that criticized London’s Mobility Master Plan (MMP).

“Anyone who volunteers for an advisory committee just wants to see the betterment of their city,” explained Jamieson Roberts, who was chair of the Cycling Advisory Committee from 2019 until its final meeting in April 2022 when council transferred its responsibilities to the ITCAC.

On Tuesday, council’s Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee voted (11-3, Trosow, Franke, Ferreira opposed) to receive but “No Further Action Be Taken” regarding ITCAC’s concerns and its recommendation to pause public meetings.

At the time, Coun. Sam Trosow warned colleagues, “If we include the language ‘Take No Action,’ I think it sends the wrong signal to the community. I want to send a signal to the community that is very explicit, that we have valued the work of this sub-committee and this advisory committee.”

Roberts agreed, “It basically sends a message that [council members] don’t like what they heard, and therefore staff should do nothing about it, even though these are experts in their respective fields that are volunteering their time to give that information to council.”

Among ITCAC’s concerns about the MMP:

• “There is no evidence that the proposed plans will meet the CEAP (Climate Emergency Acation Plan) climate targets.”
• “There is nothing in the proposed plan that specifically addresses safety beyond a guiding principle.”
• “We are concerned that mode share targets appear to have been established in a somewhat arbitrary way with insufficient modeling, analysis, or comparison to more progressive cycling cities to establish the feasibility of more ambitious targets.”

In Roberts’ experience, the relationship between council and its advisory committees was good when their recommendations aligned with public opinion and the political direction of council.

“But the second that there was a disagreement, it was very apparent that in the power structure - we were considered to be wrong,” he recalled.

Currently, city hall is accepting applications for volunteers seeking two-year appointments by council to sit on one of city hall’s three remaining advisory committees:

• Accessibility Community Advisory Committee
• Community Advisory Committee on Planning
• Environmental Stewardship and Action Community Advisory Committee

Although Roberts is frank about his time on an advisory committee, he hopes Londoners aren’t discouraged by recent events.

“Do it! Even with everything that happened - do it,” he urged. “We need as many people to stand up and fight for the best city that we can possibly have.”

Applications must be filled out on the City of London website no later than 9:00 a.m. on Feb. 13.

On Jan. 21, council will make a final decision about whether to “Take No Further Action” on the ITCAC report about the Mobility Master Plan.