Agenda item
TO RECEIVE WRITTEN QUESTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC
The questions which have been received from members of the public for this Council meeting are set out in the attached report. A maximum period of 20 minutes is allocated to this agenda item.
Minutes:
The following questions and in each case (except where indicated) a supplementary question were put and were responded to by the relevant Executive Member:-
6.1 Question from Mr Muhammad Haque:
What motivated candidates at 22 May 2014 to seek election to Tower Hamlets and what are the ethical, democratic, accountable actions that current councillors on Tower Hamlets Council are more content about and what actions they are not content about and what are the councillors doing to make all their actions accountable, ethical, transparent and relevant to and representative of the daily lives, needs, expectations of ordinary people of ALL BACKGROUNDS in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets?
Response by Councillor Oliur Rahman, Deputy Mayor
Thank you Mr Haque. Before I move to my answer, may I take a couple of seconds to say a few words? I have seen you actually when I was growing up, living in Brick Lane, the work that you have done for the community and on behalf of the community, some of the campaigns that you have led, and I’m very pleased even now that you are still determined to do just for the residents of Tower Hamlets and I am sure that you have certainly motivated many young generations in the past and I’m sure you will motivate many young generations in the future with your work and the commitment that you show for the communities in Tower Hamlets, regardless of their race, religion or whatever background that they come from. So I want to pay my gratitude and thanks to you for the work that you do.
Can I now move to your question and answer as best as I can, obviously within the time limit. I can’t speak for everyone here but I am confident their motivations for being a councillor are the same as mine and Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s - we want to make Tower Hamlets a better place to live and work and we want to ensure residents from all backgrounds have the strongest voice and representation in this council and outside.
Supplementary question from Mr Haque
I would exchange the sense of mutual recognition for the selfless work that people have been doing in the community, whether they are listed or not. Most of the proceedings in this kind of situation are limited to time and procedures so the spirit should be to extend our support to the whole community and that is where I would leave this for the future and the coming years for the Council.
Councillor Oliur Rahman’s response to the supplementary question
Mr Haque, I fully agree with you and I am hoping also that the public will hold their councillors to account for the work they do and the reasons they get elected, and also to demonstrate that in this Council you saw that we were presented with an award for the work that the Council does and I want to make this very clear – this does not happen by accident, it happens by good political leadership.
6.2 Question from Mr John Wright:
All developments have to put to council a Construction Management Plan (CMP). The CMP sets out the rules that protect existing residents against the damaging effects of the development construction. The former council failed to consult with residents regarding the CMP for the large Telfords development on the Glamis Estate. This has caused great distress to residents, resulting in the site being closed down twice already, without a brick being laid. It is perfectly obvious that Telfords have absolutely no regard for the welfare of residents. Apparently Telfords have now entered to council a new CMP. Will our new council carefully monitor and enforce all CMPs to protect its residents and also that this council protects the residents already of as previously – the developers?
Response by Councillor Rabina Khan, Cabinet Member for Housing and Development
Thank you John. I did visit the site on 19th February and that’s because you informed me straight away and there were a number of other people as well. You are quite right to criticise East End Homes and their abhorrent behavior towards councillors and to residents as well, and what happened last week was appalling behavior for an RP, but I have to tell you I have criticised a number of RPs including East End Homes, One Housing and Old Ford as well.
But it is this current Government which has given a great deal more freedom to RPs and less stringent constraints on them. But I can assure you that we will still continue to work with you, and when you say about who holds the power, who holds them to account too, the RPs – it is the residents of this borough, the tenants, the leaseholders. It is only when we work together as a collective, and we did do something very similar three years ago and it is something that I hope to do again and to bring them, and if necessary we will also write to the HCA.
Supplementary question from Mr Wright
Rabina Khan has been our councillor on the Glamis Estate. I’ve lived there a very long time and she is the only councillor of whatever party who has ever bothered with the residents of the Glamis Estate.
6.3 Question from Mr Raihan Islam:
The parking transfer scheme has many strings attached with the idea of car free zones and confuses many of the locals. In some cases even the officers from the One Stop parking shop have given misleading advice, perhaps because there are strings attached to the car free zones which creates confusion. Can the council make clear if residents who have three bedrooms and over are allowed permits in car free zones. Also to minus any conditions attached to it?
Response by Councillor Rabina Khan, Cabinet Member for Housing and Development
Thank you for your question Raihan and firstly I want to apologise for any confusion caused.
First of all, I want to be clear – Car-Free Developments is not a policy of this Council. It is in fact a policy of the London Mayor, Mayor Johnson, which we have to follow.
However in recognition of the importance for families to have access to residential car parking we sought legal advice on how we could help families who were prevented from moving due to car-free conditions and that is why the PTS was introduced.
I do apologise on behalf of the Mayor and this administration if there has been any misleading information from staff. I would hope that you would approach the relevant councilors and myself as Cabinet member to seek further clarification. I would ask for you to consider however that the law only allowed us to issue permits in very specific circumstances, especially to help prevent overcrowding. There was a very fine line, and the Mayor has further requested a further review into the PTS so that we can get more and more families to bid for car-free zones.
(No supplementary question was put)
6.4 Question from Mr Ashok Kumar:
Can the Council provide an update on the Erik Pickles-instigated government inspection?
Response by Councillor Alibor Choudhury, Cabinet Member for Resources
Thank you Mr Kumar. Many people are aware that the audit by Price Waterhouse Coopers was ordered by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles. The same Eric Pickles that spent £76,000 of your money on tea and biscuits for his department per year. £76,000 of your money, while he takes hundreds of millions of pounds from local government every year, putting people out on the streets and making people go without. This is the same hypocrite that has ordered this audit.
I can confirm that the audit is ongoing, it hasn’t concluded yet and we are fully co-operating with its requirements. We will update you as and when things have concluded.
Supplementary question from Mr Kumar
Every election cycle this Council has the dubious distinction of having each cycle be followed up by a bombardment of false claims by the same political operatives, by the same councillors sitting before you. These claims have consequences – those consequences aren’t for the councillors sitting around making claims to win cheap political points, those consequences are for the residents. Because this Council spends tens of thousands – the media reported over six figures – on false claims, fallacious accusations and claims without merit, and my question is that if next time the same faces for political opportunism come forward and make the same claims that have no merit, will they be required to pay for it rather than us?
Councillor Alibor Choudhury’s response to the supplementary question
You’re absolutely right Mr Kumar, this audit will cost you up to a million pounds by the time it is finished. I can say that this audit was precipitated by the Panorama programme which had involvement from members across the benches in the Labour group, and these are the same people that cost the Council hundreds of thousands of pounds in court costs, lost regeneration money and other costs incurred by the taxpayer for no good reason. So I totally agree with you, hopefully in future we will see an end to this and if not, we’ll have to show this lot the door.
6.5 Question from Mr Gary Reddin:
What is the Mayor doing to save our Doctors surgeries?
Response by Councillor Abdul Asad, Cabinet Member for Adult Services
I was also at the rally at Altab Ali Park when we marched in solidarity with our angry residents, practitioners and residents who want to protect the NHS, because we too are concerned for our surgeries and the excellent services that they provide. But we know that being angry alone is not enough.
The Mayor has also applied personal pressure on the Secretary of State – with an open letter expressing serious concerns over the removal of context-dependent funding based on deprivation. Along with the hard work of the Jubilee Street Practice we know this has resulted in a temporary reprieve of the removal of funding for one year for at least one of our surgeries, and we will be doing all we can to push to make this a universal offer for surgeries in the borough.
Therefore, the Tower Hamlets Health and Wellbeing Board, have also agreed to send a letter signed by partners to the Secretary of State for Health requesting a fair allocation of resources to practices disproportionately affected by the funding changes.
It has been so upsetting to see the way that changes to national funding formula are affecting our brilliant practices in Tower Hamlets. Despite the borough having some of the highest deprivation indicators in the country, changes to the NHS will mean that funding will no longer take into account the level of deprivation when deciding funding.
Supplementary question from Mr Reddin
The NHS is a national treasure which needs to be protected. The attack on our vital local NHS services by the Tory government opens up our health service to private providers. They will put profit before our health care. Will the Mayor do all he can to prevent this from happening?
Councillor Abdul Asad’s response to the supplementary question
As I earlier said, with the Mayor and the ruling group of this Council we have a number of energetic councillors here who are also campaigners and I have also noticed that councillors from the whole spectrum also joined the march to protest against the cuts. But the Government’s cut is very drastic, very fast indeed and it does not make sense in terms of the service delivery.
On the other hand, the former Labour government built up the debt. We know that the book is balanced, but not like that. So the NHS is not safe in my view either with the Tories or the Labour. It is with the people of this country, and this side of the Council is committed to continue to campaign with the residents of this borough under the leadership of the Executive Mayor.
Procedural Motion
Councillor Abdul Asad then moved, and Councillor Oliur Rahman seconded, a procedural motion “that under Procedure Rule 14.1.3 the order of business be varied such that Motion 12.2 “Motion Regarding Save Our Surgeries” be taken as the next item of business. The motion was put to the vote and was defeated.
Question 6.7 was withdrawn by the Questioner and would be submitted to the next Ordinary Council Meeting.
Questions 6.6 and 6.8 were not put at the meeting due to lack of time. The Service Head, Democratic Services confirmed that written answers would be provided. [Note: The written answers are included in Appendix A to these minutes.]
Supporting documents: