Ruth Bush

Spear’s Review

Ruth Bush, councillor for Harrow Road, London, is chair of the Westminster City Council planning and city development committee and the planning (major applications) sub-committee, which make the final decisions on some of the biggest developments in prime central London property.

Unusually, Westminster Council separates the policymaking from the decision-making in planning, so Bush is guided by Geoff Barraclough, councillor for Maida Vale and cabinet member for planning and economic development, and in particularly big schemes by the Mayor of London’s office. But it is Bush’s committee that deliberates and ultimately decides over new buildings and the spaces in between, including the rearrangement of the Strand at Aldwych with its planting and bike lanes, and the conversion of office buildings such as the OWO in Whitehall into residences.