Agenda item
SCRUTINY SPOTLIGHT
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Lutfur Rahman, will attend to report on his portfolio.
(Time allocated – 40 minutes)
Minutes:
Cllr Lutfur Rahman, Leader of the Council, opened his presentation by thanking Members of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee for all their hard work throughout the year, and for the important role they had played in ensuring residents got excellent services.
Councillor Rahman reported that the key priorities for the Council over the last year had been:
- To reduce over-crowding;
- To raise GCSE results to be amongst the best in the country;
- To reduce levels of youth unemployment;
- To address anti-social behaviour and crime;
- To improve cleanliness and quality of the public realm.
In relation to these priorities, he made the following points:
- £20 million was being invested to alleviate overcrowding by building family size homes and buying back council properties that had been sold under the Right to Buy scheme;
- The Choice Based Lettings system was to be reviewed and improved;
- The Working Neighbourhood Funds had helped 4,500 people into employment;
- The Council had a plan in place to reduce the number of young people who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) by 50% over the next year;
- The Council had introduced the London Living Wage for all members of staff and thereby set an example for other employers;
- There had been a £1 million investment in Youth Services in the Borough, this had allowed youth centres to remain open for longer hours and had increased services, especially for girls and young people with disabilities;
- GCSE results were now amongst the best in the country;
- Key Stage 2 results were above the national average;
- £300 million was being invested in the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ (BSF) project. This would lead to new buildings for schools as well as renovation of existing buildings;
- The Council was working with Central Government, Head Teachers and School Governors to improve standards of schools;
- £700,000 was being spent on 17 new Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) Police Officers; with two more being provided by the Metropolitan Police Force;
- In addition, £500,000 was being spent on CCTV and Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers;
- The ‘Dealer-A-Day’ operation was seeing mid- to high-level drug dealers being targeted in a bid to reduce the levels of illegal drugs in the Borough;
- The economic downturn impacted on regeneration efforts in the Borough, however Robin Hood Gardens and the Blackwall Reach area as well as the Bishopsgate Goods Yard were ready for redevelopment;
- There was scope for billions of pounds in revenue for the Council and its partners through Section 106 (S106) agreements with developers;
- £238 million was already secured for the Ocean Estate redevelopment;
- The Council had received a £5 million grant to encourage exercise and healthy eating amongst the residents of the Borough;
- The Council’s leisure centres now provided free swimming for residents on Fridays;
- The local history archives in Bancroft Library were to be retained, along with the building;
- £100,000 was being secured for the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster Memorial;
- £5 million was being spent on regenerating Victoria Park;
- £2 million was being spent on High Street 2012, the route the Olympic Marathon would take – this was to be spent in conjunction with English Heritage on public realm as well as securing heritage sites along the route;
- Multi-Area Agreements were being drawn up by the Five Borough Joint Committee to ensure maximum benefit was gained from the Olympics;
- The Council’s services were currently being maintained but innovative ways of making savings were needed;
- All this was underpinned by the One Tower Hamlets theme.
In response to questions from members of the Committee, Cllr Rahman made the following points:
- 28% of the residents of Tower Hamlets were under 25 years of age. An employment strategy was being developed by Cllr Alibor Choudhury, Lead Member for Employment and Skills, to provide these residents with the skills and training needed to equip them to enter the workforce; and the Working Neighbourhood Fund was providing funding to carry out this work in partnership with other agencies;
- Limited resources, as well as government legislation, meant that certain groups of people were not given priority to be housed or re-housed as they were not classified as vulnerable, and this problem had been recognised;
- The £1 million investment in Youth Services was designed so the money would follow the young people instead of individual youth centres. This would help eradicate any perception of an east/west divide. Youth centres in the Borough provided an excellent service, although some needed improvement;
- The Council was involved in discussions regarding the future of Poplar Baths;
- If Tower Hamlets Homes could achieve a two star rating, it would qualify for further funding to raise more of the housing stock to decent standards;
- To increase community cohesion, the Council had to ensure that there was equality of service, not just equality of philosophy or ideas;
- The Olympics would provide an opportunity for the residents of Tower Hamlets in terms of employment, housing and public realm. Cllr A. Choudhury was working on an employment strategy to maximise employment for local people and work was underway to ensure that as many affordable homes for Tower Hamlets residents were secured in the Olympic Village. Multi-Area Agreements meant that Central Government was providing extra money to be spent on increasing employment and Job Centre Plus money would be devolved to the five boroughs, so it could be spent where it was needed the most;
- After consultation with officers, the initial proposal for the Ocean Estate was rejected as it was felt the level of social housing was too low. The proposal was to be redrafted to increase the level of social housing. Concerns about cleanliness should be reported to Tower Hamlets Homes to deal with. Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers as well as the 19 new police officers would help tackle the situation with drugs on this estate;
- The Council was doing what it could to encourage healthy eating amongst its residents, but planning applications could only be determined according to legislation and on their individual merits and therefore there could not be a blanket ban on fast food outlets;
- Overcrowding was an issue in the Borough however over the last 2-3 years, 1,000 new homes had been built every year. There was £20 million to buy back council properties brought under the Right to Buy scheme and new homes were being build in partnership with Registered Social Landlords;
- £30 million was being invested in St Paul’s Way school through the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ project to give it state of the art facilities. The current senior management were interim during the period of reorganisation and there were no plans to make it an academy. How modern foreign languages are taught in individual schools was an issue which parents should take up with governing bodies;
- Stock transfers allowed investments to be made, to raise housing stock to decent standards. Overall, stock transfer had worked, with just some minor concerns that still needed to be addressed. If Tower Hamlets Homes could get a two star rating from the Audit Commission, then they could lever in £200 million which would go towards improving the housing stock. Opportunities would continue to be explored and a housing strategy developed, bearing in mind the small size of the Borough and its dense population;
- The 19 new police officers would be managed in partnership with the Borough Commander and the local police force;
- The Participatory Budgeting exercises had been a success with £2.4 million spent across the Borough. However as it was a new process there were still some initial concerns, and safeguards would be put in place to ensure the system could not be manipulated;
- The car-free arrangements that were in place in some estates/developments needed to be reviewed if it was felt to be discriminatory;
- There was a target to reduce the use of consultants by 10% and they were only used when it was necessary.
The Chair thanked the Leader for his presentation and for answering the Committee’s questions.