During the meeting the Council agreed to vary the order of business by taking Motion 12.4 before Agenda Item 8 (Opposition Motion for Debate). For clarity the minutes are presented in the order the items appeared on the agenda.

The Speaker of the Council, Councillor Shafi Ahmed in the Chair:

The Speaker of the Council provided his update to the Council. He welcomed everyone to the last Council meeting in Mulberry Place before the Council’s move to the new Town Hall in Whitechapel and wished everyone a Happy New Year. The highlights included:

·       Attendance at the victory day and liberation of Bangladesh, human rights & peace-day.

·       Attendance at local schools to participate in achievement assemblies and concerts.

·       Celebration of the annual Muslim Staff forum gala dinner and 2022 Christmas carols.

·       Switching on of Christmas tree lights at Trafalgar Square and Charity Christmas Party.

·       The Speaker Charity dinner in aid of the Tower project, with a special thanks to the sponsors and the money raised for the charity.

Apologies for lateness were received on behalf of:

Councillor Marc Francis and Councillor Rachel Blake.

Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest, identified in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine; whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are also reminded to declare the nature of the interest at the earliest opportunity and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it is the Members’ responsibility to identify any interests and also update their register of interests form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of an interest, you are advised to seek advice prior to the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services.

Following a request from 17 Members of the Council the Monitoring Officer agreed, in line with the Member Code of Conduct, to grant a general dispensation to all Councillors on Agenda Item 8 - Motion on Tower Hamlets Homes as without the dispensation a large number of Members would have to declare a Pecuniary Interest and leave the room for the debate and this would impede the ‘transaction of the business’. Members were therefore able to participate in the debate and vote accordingly.

To confirm as a correct record of the proceedings the unrestricted minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Council held on Wednesday 16 November 2022.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the unrestricted minutes of the Ordinary Council meeting held on Wednesday 16^th November 2022 be approved and signed by the Speaker as a correct record of proceedings, subject to the following amendment:

·       Councillor Peter Golds referred to page 13 of the agenda (page 3 of the minutes) Item 3 and stated he had requested that his name be recorded as not voting for this motion in the minutes. Hence Council noted the amendment in relation to item 8 ‘Opposition Motion for Debate - Support of small businesses in the face of the energy bill crisis’ that Councillor Golds did not vote in favour of the motion at the Council meeting of 5th October 2022.

·       Councillor Nathalie Bienfait stated that Appendix A needed to make clear what the question and response was. She said the Democratic Services team had been notified of this administrative error and would going forth ensure this was clearly shown. Councillor Bienfait continued stating the response to her question at 11.24 had not been fully answered. The Speaker of the Council, Councillor Shafi Ahmed requested Councillor Bienfait to put her query in writing to the relevant Cabinet Member.

Announcements from the Chief Executive

The Chief Executive, Will Tuckley provided his regular update to the Council meeting, highlighting the following issues:

·       Covid and Flu rates were a little lower than the heights they reached over Christmas. However, the NHS and Social Care were under significant pressure to manage the demand for services.

·       Work at the New Town Hall was progressing well, with the first teams in phase 1a moving to the Town Hall.

·       Mayflower Primary School in Poplar had been named the best primary school in the Country in the Sunday Times Parent Power League Tables 2023.

·       Children Services held its Annual Engagement meeting with Ofsted to review performance in respect to both Children’s Social Care and Education.

·       Feedback from Ofsted was very positive in respect to recent inspections of the Council and schools. This had been due to the self-evaluation and improvement plans.

The Council Procedure Rules provide for a maximum of four petitions to be discussed at an Ordinary Meeting of the Council.

The attached report presents the received petitions to be discussed. Should any additional petitions be received they will be listed to be noted but not discussed.

5.1 Petition regarding Road Closures

Mr Sadek Ali on behalf of the petitioners addressed the meeting and stated the road closures were seriously impacting the lives and livelihoods of local residents. He asked Members of the Council to re-open the roads. The petitioner responded to questions from Members. Councillor Kabir Hussain, Cabinet Member for Environment and the Climate Emergency responded to the matters raised in the petition. Councillor Kabir Hussain stated that as part of the Aspire manifesto, they were looing to open roads and ensure safety for all.

RESOLVED

1. That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Place for a written response within 28 days.

5.2 Petition regarding Saving Chisenhale School Streets

Daniella Baker, Ruth Herbert and Tamara Barklem together with their children addressed the meeting and asked for the Chisenhale School Street to be reinstated. The Petitioners stated they were asking for a time-limited closure at drop off and pick up times, to improve safety as well as air pollution. The petitioners responded to questions from Members. Councillor Kabir Hussain, Cabinet Member for Environment and the Climate Emergency responded to the matters raised in the petition. Councillor Kabir Hussain said the traffic order was a temporary order and whilst he appreciated the school children’s concerns about pollution and health & safety, roads needed to be accessible for all, including the elderly and infirm. He said road closures were not effective. The administration was working to make the borough greener for everyone.

RESOLVED

1. That the petition be referred to the Corporate Director, Place for a written response within 28 days.

The Council’s Constitution provides for the Elected Mayor to give a report at each Ordinary Council Meeting.

A maximum of six minutes is allowed for the Elected Mayor’s report, following which the Speaker of the Council will invite the leaders of the opposition groups to respond for up to two minutes each should they so wish. Following those contributions, the Mayor may reply for up to two minutes.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman presented his report to the Council.

The Opposition Group Leader, Councillor Sirajul Islam then responded briefly to the Mayor’s report.

Mayor Rahman provided concluding remarks

To debate a Motion submitted by the Administration in accordance with Rules 11 and 13 of the Council’s Constitution. The debate will last for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Councillor Ohid Ahmed moved and Councillor Bodrul Choudhury seconded the motion as printed in the agenda.

Councillor Amina Ali moved and Councillor Rebaka Sultana seconded the following proposed amendment as set out in the supplementary agenda.

Additions underlined

Deletions struck through.

This Council notes:

·       The rising levels of crime in Tower Hamlets since 2015. That Community Safety remains a vital issue for residents across Tower Hamlets borough.

·       That Tower Hamlets is ranked in the top ten of London’s most dangerous

Boroughs, ranking third out of a possible thirty-two.

·       That, according to 2022 data, serious crimes are on the rise and are much higher than the London average, including Anti-Social Behaviour, Drugs, Robberies and Burglaries and violent crime, including periodic explosions in knife crime and murder.

·       According to the latest reported statistics from the Metropolitan Police, homophobic hate crime in Tower Hamlets has increased by 39% in the last 8 months. At the Hate Crime Awareness event run in October 2022 by the Council-funded LGBTQI + forum, residents shared their concerns over safety in Tower Hamlets. This fear within the LGBTQI+ community in Tower Hamlets has increased since the horrific and tragic murder of Roy Kankanamalage last year, and further violence against our LGBTQI+ community in Mile End in July, continues to create fear and terror amongst our residents.

·       That it is no coincidence that this rise in crime has coincided with the cuts to police and other key public services in London due to the decimation of neighbourhood policing by 13 years of Conservative government austerity where PCSOs have been halved since 2010, destroying the vital community link between residents and the police and the previous administration’s indifference and unwillingness to invest in community safety.

·       Despite Government inaction, the previous Labour administration did a lot of work with its partners in the Metropolitan Police Service and other local agencies to ensure that residents were protected from the worst effects of Conservative austerity on community safety.

·       That the previous Labour administration invested in council-funded police officers, known as the Partnership Task Force (PTF), and since April 2021 the PTF undertook more than 9,000 hours of uniformed patrols, issued nearly 200 anti-social behaviour warnings, conducted 376 stop and searches and made 53 detections for possession of drugs or possession with intent to supply.

·       The Council’s award-winning Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), funded by the previous Labour administration, offers vital support for victims of domestic abuse and looked to improve women’s safety, offering training sessions to encourage male allyship and reporting of abuse, a new contract with Solace Women’s Aid to support victims of domestic abuse, and continued to deliver the sanctuary scheme which allowed domestic abuse victims to stay in their own homes.

·       That the previous Labour administration also invested in the Council’s CCTV Transformation Programme, a £3.1million investment to upgrade the whole CCTV network to new digital technology, which will increase visibility and allow the Council to better support the police and tackle crime.

·       That huge volumes of complaints  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To debate a Motion submitted by the Opposition Group in accordance with Rules 11 and 13 of the Council’s Constitution. The debate will last for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Councillor Marc Francis moved and Councillor Amina Ali seconded the motion as printed in the agenda.

Councillor Kabir Ahmed moved and Councillor Harun Miah seconded a proposed amendment to the motion as printed in the tabled papers supplement.

Additions underlined

Deletions struck through.

This Council believes: 

·       Tower Hamlets Homes (THH) has on balance led to a significant improvement in the quality of housing management than was achieved when council housing was last a direct in-house service. 

·       Simply bringing THH back in-house will not deliver the improvements in repairs services and value for money tenants and leaseholders consistently say they want to see. 

·       Stronger direct accountability to council tenants and leaseholders and to elected councillors is an essential component of the alternative governance arrangements. 

·       The current arrangements for the democratic oversight of THH’s performance are already inadequate and will be even more so if the service is brought back in-house and councillors no longer serve on its Board. 

·       Tower Hamlets Homes (THH) was established as an Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO)  in 2008 to assist with elevating all Tower Hamlets homes to compliance with the Decent Homes Standard. 

·       That the ALMO model has served its purpose, with Tower Hamlets comprising one of only four London Boroughs who still adhere to the ALMO model.  

·       That another of these Labour-run Boroughs with the ALMO model (Lewisham) have just voted to conclude their ALMO services and bring housing back in-house.  

·       That the building of new homes and the tackling of the overcrowding crisis in Tower Hamlets, and the maintenance and improvement of existing stock, was and remains the central pledge of Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s transformative Manifesto. 

·       That this is reflected in both the Council’s Strategic and Delivery plans.  

·       The insourcing of the ALMO would enable the council to deliver services to residents living in social and council housing that meet their needs, and assist in the delivery of this Administration’s central pledges around housing.  

·       That this Administration is confident that the insourcing of Tower Hamlets Homes has overwhelming support from residents.  

·       That Officers have already begun the necessary processes to instigate a review of housing management functions, that will strengthen accountability and resident and stakeholder engagement with the service if it were to come in-house. 

This Council therefore resolves: 

·       To call on the Executive Mayor to commit to instruct THH/LBTH to proactively organise a minimum of four Tenants & Residents Association meetings on each estate/neighbourhood. 

·       To call on the Executive Mayor to instruct officers to begin an open and transparent consultation with stakeholders on the level of performance an in-house service would be expected to achieve over the next three years. 

·       To call on the Executive Mayor to establish and resource either a new Housing Committee of elected councillors to oversee the performance of THH increase the number of meetings of the existing Housing & Regeneration Scrutiny Sub-committee to ten each year, with an expanded membership. 

·       To support officers in the process of insourcing Tower Hamlets Homes, should residents vote to return to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To consider the report of the Executive on the Youth Justice Annual Plan.

The Council considered the report of the Executive setting out the annual report and plan of the Youth Justice Board.

RESOLVED:

1.    To agree the Youth Justice Plan set out in appendix 1 to the Youth Justice Board report attached to the cover sheet.

To consider the report of the Director of Legal and Monitoring Officer on the yearly uplift to the Members’ Allowances Scheme.

The Council to review and note the options set out in the report in relation to the members’ allowance scheme. Councillor Maium Talukdar proposed a recommendation, seconded by Councillor Saied Ahmed, that no uplift be provided to the Members Allowances Scheme for 2022-23 and that the Mayor be asked to explore adding a sum equivalent to that saved to the Council’s Cost of Living Support Funds.

Following debate, the proposed recommendation was put to the vote and was agreed.

RESOLVED:

1. To agree that no uplift be added to the Member Allowances Scheme for 2022-23 and that the Mayor be asked to explore adding a sum equivalent to that saved to the Council’s Cost of Living Support Funds. 

The questions which have been received from Councillors to be put at this Council meeting are set out in the attached report.  A maximum period of 30 minutes is allocated to this agenda item.

The following questions and in each case supplementary questions were put (except where indicated) and were responded to by the Mayor or relevant Executive Member:

11.1 Question from Councillor Amin Rahman:

Can the lead member update the chamber on where we are with the council’s accounts? These accounts have been left unsigned for the past 6 years thanks to the previous administration.

Response of Councillor Saied Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Resources and the Cost of Living

Councillor Saied Ahmed stated that for the 2016/17 and 2017/18 KPMG had issued draft certificates and these would be signed once Deloitte had completed their audits for subsequent years.

The 2018/19 and 2019/20 audits were ongoing by Deloitte but were nearing completion. The 2020/21 audit had not yet commenced. Deloitte would be commencing this once their 2018/19 and 2019/20 accounts are signed. The 2021/22 accounts will be audited once the 2020/21 audit is completed.

11.2 Question from Councillor Shubo Hussain.

It was Small Business Saturday last month. The previous Labour administration invested a huge amount of money into our local small businesses when they were negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Given the uncertainty surrounding Government support for small businesses, will the Mayor commit to the Labour Group’s proposals of a Small Business Hardship Fund and much-needed Business Rates relief in these times of crisis?

Councillor Sabina Akhtar asked the question on behalf of Councillor Shubo Hussain as Councillor Hussain had left the meeting unwell.

Response of Councillor Abu Talha Chowdhury, Cabinet Member of Jobs, Skills and Growth

For Small Business Saturday 2023, the Council encouraged residents and visitors to ‘shop local’ and showcased local businesses via channels including social media and Our East End.  Shopping local is something we can all do more; it doesn’t require sustained public investment and creates an important economic multiplier effect that generates wealth for our residents.  The initiative has been well-received by local businesses and is something that this administration will grow and develop over the coming year.

The money that Councillor Hussain refers to in his question was principally provided by central government as part of HM Treasury’s COVID recovery financial package of support for small businesses; rather than funds generated by the previous administration.  Whilst that package of financial support ended in 2022; we are working on a new range of support for small businesses that will support them with rising energy costs and the ‘cost-of-doing-business’ crisis.  We look forward to announcing more about this package of support within the coming month.

This administration has already supported small businesses via the CARF (COVID additional relief fund) grant, which supported a great number of small businesses (859) in the borough to reduce their business rates liability in 2022.  This administration will continue to provide Small Business Rate Relief (zero business rates bill for businesses with a rateable value of £12,000 or less) to support small TH businesses to survive during these challenging times.

We’ll continue to explore opportunities to support local businesses to trade  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Councillor Peter Golds moved and Councillor Maium Talukdar seconded under Procedural Rule 12.1(c) to change the order of business to take Agenda Item 12.4 (Motion on Greenwich Foot Tunnel) before Agenda Item 8 (Opposition Motion for Debate) the Speaker of the Council agreed to the urgency reasons set out and put the request to the meeting which was agreed.

12.1    Motion Regarding Greenwich Foot Tunnel

Councillor Peter Golds moved the motion as printed on the agenda.

Following debate, the motion was put to the vote and was agreed.

RESOLVED

This Council notes that the Royal Borough of Greenwich voted to approve changes to the Bye Laws relating to the Greenwich and Woolwich Foot Tunnels which it has administered since 1986.However these have never been implemented as no agreement was reached between the council’s of Newham, Tower Hamlets and the Secretary of State.

The Council further notes:

Much of the controversy has arisen because of an attempt to permit cycling in the tunnel, despite being prohibited for over eighty years.

The report to Greenwich council stated

“No consultation on the proposals has been undertaken, or considered necessary.

The Friends of Greenwich and Woolwich Tunnels are aware of the proposals.”

It continued,

That with regard to Community Safety there are no significant implications arising from this Report.“ and:-

“That with regard to Health and Safety there are no significant implications arising from this report.” Concluding:-

“That with regard to Health and Wellbeing there are no significant implications arising from this Report.”

However,  the Department of Transport guidance on shared facilities states:

“Converting a footway or footpath to allow use by cyclists should only be done after a rigorous assessment has been carried out. It is vital to ascertain whether it is the best option or not. This can only be done after all on-road solutions have been fully considered and rejected as unsuitable. If so, the conversion must be carefully designed to meet the needs, as far as is practicable, of all its intended users.”

That it is obvious that no assessment, let alone a rigorous assessment, has been undertaken by the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

That the tunnel is designated as a foot tunnel.

That residents of Tower Hamlets are concerned about the safety implications of cyclists riding through the tunnel, which is extremely narrow in places and completely unsuited to joint usage by cyclists and pedestrians.

Over the rent holiday period pedestrians were assaulted by a cyclist speeding in the tunnel, oblivious to families and children.

The Council under this administration, resolves to undertake a rigorous and impartial assessment as to Health and Safety before approving any changes to the byelaws relating to cycling in the foot tunnel.