The Council agreed to suspend Procedure Rule 13.1 to enable the following urgent motions to be debated without notice:

 

13.1    Urgent motion calling for an investigation into Old Poplar Town             Hall

 

Councillor Peter Golds moved, and Councillor Tim Archer seconded, the motion as tabled.

 

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

 

RESOLVED

 

This Council notes:

 

• The former Poplar Town Hall on the corner of Poplar High Street and Woodstock Terrace, E14 is an iconic building dating back to the 19^th Century. It was the administrative home of Poplar Borough Council 1900-1938, and as such is a listed building.
• That in 2008 the former Poplar Town Hall was put up for disposal and the Cabinet stipulated that “it should be advertised locally to allow local groups to make an offer”
• That subsequently on 12 January 2011 officers were given authority to dispose of the property in the open market.
• That according to answers provided by the council, the property was “openly and widely” marketed by external agents on 9 May 2011; and a wide range of bids was received on 8 July 2011.
• The property was, according to officers, sold to the highest bidder. The transaction was completed on 11 November 2011. The sum paid by the highest bidder was £876,000
• That this price was not much more than the price of a family home nearby, for example on 6 May 2011 a three bedroom semi-detached house close by in Woodstock Terrace was sold for £585,000

• That the former Poplar Town Hall contains offices, a full size council chamber, and even a self-contained flat, and is obviously substantially larger than a three bedroom semi-detached house.

 

This Council further notes:

 

• That the owners of the successful bidder and ultimate purchaser, Dreamstar, are well known to the Mayor and members of his administration.
• That planning permission and Listed Building Consent were granted on the 3^rd July 2013 for a change of use from office (B1) to hotel (C1) under Officers’ delegated authority.
• That the change of use from office to hotel use will result in an increase in value of the building by several million pounds.

 

This Council believes:

 

• That it is entirely inappropriate to grant this change of use using delegated power, considering the public interest in the sale of the building and the effect such a change of use would have on local residents.
• That there remain unanswered questions as to the relationship between the current owner/occupier, and the administration.
• That no answer has been given as to whether in the initial marketing documents bidders were informed that the council would entertain a change of use of this type.

 

This Council resolves:

 

• To instruct the Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and Section 151 Officer, in conjunction with the District Auditor, to undertake an immediate investigation into the marketing and sale of the former Poplar Town Hall
• That this investigation should include details of all meetings and correspondence between officers of the council, councillors, the Mayor, bidders, and those responsible for publicising the sale; and that these details should be published.
• The investigation should pay particular attention to any potential conflicts of interest, etc not properly disclosed.
• That the investigation should appoint an independent property valuer to establish the 2011 valuation of the building with B1 office use and C1 Hotel use, and the 2014 valuation of the building with C1 Hotel use.
• That the investigation should, in view of the seriousness of this situation, produce a report to be considered by O&S on March 4^th and the full Council at their meeting on March 26^th.

 

 

13.2    Urgent motion on the integrity of upcoming elections

 

Councillor Rachael Saunders moved, and Councillor Helal Abbas seconded, the motion as tabled.

 

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

 

RESOLVED

 

This Council notes that:

 

·         Following recent updates from the Head of Paid Service this motion seeks to amend the scope of the investigations launched at the last Council meeting.

·         Two weeks ago the Electoral Commission identified Tower Hamlets as one of 16 boroughs at greater risk of electoral fraud in the 2014 local and mayoral elections.

·         This week the Council will launch a new candidate protocol to help reassure voters that the upcoming elections will be free, fair and without fraud.

·         At the Council’s November meeting a motion was passed which raised serious questions about the conduct of the Mayor’s re-election campaign.

·         Thus far our understanding is that the ongoing Council investigation has no reason to doubt the account given on the LoveWapping Blog.

·         A THH investigation launched following this incident, but prior to the Council motion, found no evidence to suggest that they actually were THH staff.

·         The police are looking into the allegations and have yet to draw a final conclusion.

·         It is possible to assume that these women were impersonating THH Officers in order to convince residents to divulge information they wouldn’t have given to political campaigners.

 

We further note that:

 

·         Despite their efforts Council officers have been unable to identify these canvassers.

·         Subsequent to the canvassing Mr Baines received Members Enquiry acknowledgements and then responses from the Mayor.

·         This means that the information from the canvassers was passed to the Mayor’s office for processing, and that therefore a record will exist in the Mayor’s office.

·         This also means that the Mayor’s office will have knowledge of how it received this information and will be able to help identify the canvassers or will know persons who can identify them.

 

This Council believes that:

 

·         Ongoing attempts by the Council to prevent electoral fraud at the upcoming elections will be undermined by the perception that legitimate concerns have been raised and ignored by the current Mayor who has refused to answer the serious questions put to him.

·         In the absence of any sign that the Mayor intends to come clean about the conduct of his re-election campaign, it is incumbent upon Council officers to continue to investigate all allegations raised and to take all steps possible to identify the three women who falsely claimed to be members of THH staff. This includes investigating the conduct of officers in the Mayor’s office, and the use of resources in the Mayor’s Office.

 

This Council further notes:

 

·         During the debate at the last Council meeting the Mayor was directly asked a number of questions which he refused consistently to answer:

 

o   Does the Mayor's re-election campaign pay people who canvass for him? If so, How is this funded?

 

o   Is the Mayor aware of people going round with his leaflets pretending to be from Tower Hamlets Homes? Has he investigated? Does he believe this may be a case of fraud?

 

o   Clearly the Mayor’s campaign has already cost thousands of pounds so why has the Mayor only ever made one donation declaration to the Electoral Commission? How does he fund his campaign?

 

o   Why did the Mayor and independent councillors ban acknowledgement letters to save money and then send 4,322 of them at tax payer expense? Will they pay the money back?

 

o   Is there any link between the Mayor’s funding to many new organisations in the borough and the Mayor’s campaign?

 

o   Why is the Mayor remaining silent and refusing to answer these serious allegations from residents?

 

This Council further believes:

 

·         The integrity of the upcoming elections is at risk if the Mayor continues to refuse to answer these important questions.

·         That the lack of declarations to the Electoral Commission is incredibly concerning given that the Mayor has hosted a number of high profile events including:

 

o   A dinner at Mulberry School for over 2,000 women at Mulberry School

o   An Iftar meal for well over 1,000 people at WaterLily in August

o   A fundraising dinner at Canary Wharf

o   Numerous glossy printed leaflets distributed across the borough

 

This Council resolves:

 

·         To further instruct officers to continue their investigation, with an expanded mandate to include attempts to identify the people potentially of impersonating Council or THH staff and to take appropriate action including referral to the police on the basis of false representation.

·         Call on the Mayor and any independent councillors with any information, to identify the three canvassers who are at the centre of these allegations.

·         To suspend standing orders to allocate a five minute slot after this item for the Mayor, and no other member, to personally address the questions set out above in the further notes section, and following that the proposer of this motion should then have a two minute right of reply.