On The Poor Optics Of City Councillor Nighat Qureishi Nabbing A Grant For Her Billingsgate Network Group From Our Local Authority’s Destination City Partnership Fund

It can be problematic for a councillor to belong to a community group that get grants from the local authority they sit on. Managing such conflicts of interest requires strict transparency. This should entail not only declarations of interest by councillors finding themselves in this position, but also information about the community groups councillors run being easily accessible to anyone who wants further information about them. In relation to this we noted the following in a September 20255 post about the City of London council’s funding of community groups in its Portsoken ward: Among the Community Infrastructure Levy Neighbourhood Fund grants listed on a council website page last updated on 9 May 2025 is an approved award for Portsoken Activities Group to receive: “£28,105 towards community activities for residents of Portsoken over three years, 2025 to 2027, to increase community cohesion and reduce social isolation.” This seems to have been approved by the officers panel under…