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.

 

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

 

6.1       Question from Ms Lillian Collins:

 

Can the Mayor update me on the progress regarding Poplar Baths, including when the work will be completed, and when we can expect it to be open for local residents?

 

Response by Councillor Asma Begum (Cabinet Member for Culture)

 

The scheme is still in the construction phase and although some elements have been handed over, the final date of the handover of Poplar Baths is 24^th June 2016.

 

(Ms Lillian Collins made a number of comments. No supplementary question was put).

 

6.2      Question from Mr Ahmed Hussain:

 

I have been previously informed by Councillor Blake that procedures surrounding Compulsory Purchase Orders are of equal status for both social landlords and freeholders. Given this, would the Council support the freeholders of Alpha Grove, E14, to purchase amenity space and garages within the freeholding area, and if so what assistance could the Council offer?

 

Freeholders could re-develop the freeholding area and provide the Council with at least 33.33% social housing (town houses with a garden).

 

(Councillor Rachel Blake sought to clarify which areas of Alpha Grove the questioner was particularly interested in. Mr Hussain responded that he lived and was a freeholder on theBarkantine Estate, but also leaseholders and freeholders would be affected in ‘project stone’ proposed by One Housing. He also stated that:

·         There  are only 42 freeholders on the Estate including myself. If the CPO is equal to everyone, we can look at buying the amenities of the garages of the freehold area and make a proposal to the Council. But we need guidance at the same time and that is our proposal today).

 

Response by Councillor Rachel Blake (Cabinet Member for Strategic Development)

 

I think we have given you some guidance already and I am more than happy to keep talking about how the residents of Barkantine and all of the Isle of Dogs Estates will be involved in the future of the homes that they live in. I hope that is helpful and I am happy to keep this conversation going, but probably the rest of the room don’t want to do it through this process. But it is really important that the residents of the Barkantine and all of the Isle of Dogs Estates are part of any redevelopment that goes forward.  I think you have already got the guidance on CPO powers. It’s a very long process about how we would appraise it. But if you have got some really detailed proposals about how you and this group want to be involved in this process, then perhaps we should organise a separate meeting. 

 

Supplementary question from Mr Ahmed Hussain

 

I am happy to arrange a meeting with yourselves and the freeholders if that helps.

 

In light of the Council’s agenda of having houses and gardens can the Council ensure that in the event that there will be redevelopment in the Barkantine Estate, that you will ensure that the 42 houses will have like for like properties in the area?

 

CouncillorRachel Blake’s response to the supplementary question

 

Thanks for your question. You know that we really want to bring forward more homes with gardens and you also know that this is not the Planning Committee this is full Council so we can’t determine any of your ideas this evening. As I said, all residents should be at the heart of any redevelopment proposals so I hope that we can keep talking about exactly what you would want to see in any redevelopment that may or may not come forward.

 

6.3       Question from Mr Jamir Chowdhury:

 

Can the Mayor please explain what he is doing to get more women into employment, particularly from the BME community?

 

Response by Councillor Shiria Khatun (Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Community Safety)

 

Thank you for bringing this important question. It gives me the opportunity to talk about some of the wonderful initiatives that we’ve got running and some of the wonderful work that we have been doing since Mayor John Biggs got into power back in June. As you know, one of the initiatives the Council runs is Skills Match which is the Council’s job brokerage service. This particular service has worked with almost 800 women in 2014-15.  Out of which, 84% were from the BME group. 324 women got into jobs in the same year. 80% were from the BME group which is a massive achievement which I am sure that you will agree with me.

 

The other initiatives that we have is Working Start, Women into Health and Child Care. We also run the raising aspirations work programme which has engaged with 491 people. Out of whom 324 were female which is another massive achievement for this Council and for the Borough. More recently the Council has been successful in securing £1.4 million of European Funding through our partnership with the East London Growth Boroughs to engage and support local unemployed people into training and work. This will include women as one our key priority groups. The other thing that I have been doing in the last 4-5 months is working with women’s groups in Tower Hamlets. As a result we have now established a group called the Bismillah Womens Journey in Poplar. It started off from the Lansbury ward. It then attracted women from different parts of Poplar. This particular group has about 45 plus women who have not worked before. It’s about enhancing their existing skills.

 

Supplementary question from Mr Jamir Chowdhury

 

Thanks for the detailed response. Is the Mayor aware that the highest female unemployment is in Tower Hamlets and as a result of this, would the Mayor set up a task force to deal with this?

 

CouncillorShiria Khatun’s response to the supplementary question

 

Again it gives me pleasure and the opportunity to say that since Mayor John Biggs has been in power which has been four months we have done a huge amount which I have pointed out before. However, the particular group that I have just mentioned which I wasn’t able to finish because of time limitation, the Bismillahwomens group which I said has about 45 plus women from the Bangladeshi community who have never worked before, but they have the passion to want to work. What they are doing is that they have set up a social enterprise and they are going to be enhancing their existing skills which is catering, sewing and so forth to actually generate jobs for themselves. I think that you would agree with me that to say that that is a massive achievement for the women of this Borough, especially the Bangladeshi women.

 

6.4       Question from Mr Michael James:

 

Can the Mayor give an update on the current programme for Landlord Licensing Scheme?

 

Response by Councillor Sirajul Islam (Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing Management & Performance)

 

Thank you Mr James. In line with the Mayor’s commitment that a Landlord Licensing Scheme would be brought forward,  preparations are currently being made and options are being examined by Officers, and an item on this issue is expected to be presented to the Mayor in Cabinet in February 2016. The scheme has been to public consultation and in developing the scheme the Council has carefully reviewed government guidance and will draw on good practice from the experience at those Local Authorities that have already introduced the licensing scheme in recent years.

 

Supplementary question from Mr Michael James:

 

Given that the new Housing Bill includes legislation to give Authorities additional powers to tackle rogue landlords in the private rented sector, can the Mayor outline how he will speed up inspections and the issuing of improvement notices so that private renters can benefit from the new law that is supposed to prevent revenge evictions.

 

 

Councillor Sirajul Islam’sresponse to the supplementary question

 

Thank you again Mr James for your supplementary. So as I said in my response, a report will be coming to Cabinet in February 2016 and all the details are contained within the report in terms of taking action on rogue landlords etc. Obviously, I don’t have all the information here at hand but once the Cabinet report is issued it will be on line and you can read it yourself and you are very welcomed to attend the Cabinet meeting to hear the report being presented.

 

6.5       Question from Mr Owen Corrigan:

 

Recent figures released by the London Metropolitan Police show an increase in reported hate crimes across London. Measures for Homophobic, Islamophobic and Anti-semitic hate crimes all increased city-wide. Homophobic crimes were up by 27%, Islamophobic crimes were up by 64%, and Anti-semitic crimes were up by 62%. We can all be pleased to note that in the borough of Tower Hamlets Islamophobic hate crimes actually fell in the year to Sept 2015 - by 12%. However, reported Homophobic hate crimes increased in this period by 15% ; Anti-semitic hate crimes increased by fully 100% - doubling in the previous 12 months.

 

I ask the Cabinet Member, what measures are already in place to tackle the issue of hate crime in the borough and what is the Council's strategy to ensure that next year's figures show a decrease across all categories of hate crime in Tower Hamlets?

 

Response by Councillor Shiria Khatun (Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Community Safety)

 

Thank you once again for coming here this evening to give me the opportunity to talk about the initiatives we have in progress. Tackling hate crime is a key Council priority. What we have at the Council at the moment is a three-fold approach. We are working in partnership with the Police. One of the things that we want to do is support and protect victims and witnesses. We are doing all we can to achieve enforcement action against any identified perpetrators and also raise awareness work that focuses on prevention and reducing the harm these crimes cause to individuals and families and the community as a whole. As a Local Authority we have put in place a range of initiatives under the No Place for Hate heading. This includes the Tower Hamlets No Place for Hate Forum, the Hate Incidence Panel, No Place for Hate Campaign, the No Place for Hate Pledge and the No Place for Hate Champions Project.

 

Tower Hamlets No Place for Hate Forum, is a quarterly multi agency forum, which develops and implements the Borough Hate Crime Strategy, ensuring that there is support and protection for victims, offenders brought to justice and raising awareness to promote community cohesion. The Hate Incident Panel include key staff from the police, housing associations, victims support and various departments from within the Council. They meet on a monthly basis to ensure a coordinated approach to hate incidences.

 

There are many other initiatives we have in place  and one of the things that I would like to say personally is that  there is no room for any hate crimes in Tower Hamlets and the reason why reporting is high is that people now have the confidence to report where there is hate crimes, racially motivated crimes  or domestic violence crimes. So in a way you can look at it in a positive way that people are finding more confidence to report these sort of crimes.

 

Supplementary question from Mr Owen Corrigan:

 

I would just ask if the Mayor and the Cabinet would consider whether extra resource may be required on the issue of hate crime given the tragic events in Paris over the weekend and given that we know that the intolerant and bigoted in our society will use events like this to stoke division usually to the detriment of our Muslim brothers and sisters.

 

Councillor Shiria Khatun’s response to the supplementary question

 

Thank you Mr Speaker. Yes we have the ward panels and I would urge yourself to join your ward panel. I am not sure which particular ward you’re from. One of the things that I will say is that hate crime is recorded. The one thing that is not recorded by specification is Islamophobic attacks and this is something that the Council will be doing and will be recording that particular data from now on. Once again thank you very much for coming here tonight and giving us the opportunity to talk about all the brilliant initiatives that we have got for dealing with hate crimes in Tower Hamlets.

 

6.6        Question from Mr Sean Michael:

 

Can the Cabinet Member please inform me as to what are the rights of East Thames Housing association to evict 142 residents including key workers with a few months’ notice and neither the housing association or the local council advising on any real options that don't result in their lives being shattered. Whether it's a much longer time for people to buy the rent properties via shared ownership (as is proposed by East Thames but without enough time to do it), or help to move somewhere else affordable for those who cannot afford to move?

 

Response by Mayor John Biggs.

 

 

I have met you Mr Michael and your fellow questioner and I know that this is a very serious setback for housing in Tower Hamlets. There have been a number of meetings involving Councillors with yourselves and with our Council Officers. We have a meeting next week with the Chief Executive of East Thames where we will talk further with her about the steps they are making.

 

We think that they behaved quite improperly and they have ignored the consequences of their actions or they did not anticipate the consequences. They thought that people would simple say well fair enough we will live somewhere else. The reality of housing in Tower Hamlets is that housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable. One of the strong messages that came out of this decision is that the housing that they were providing and we would hope will continue to provide, has provided an opportunity for key workers in the Borough to obtain housing which they would not otherwise be able to afford and quite often would not have the priority for Council housing. This is very very important to us as a Council. We have an Affordability Commission which is looking in the future at how we can achieve more affordable housing. We are meeting with the Chief Executive next week to see what we can do to help pursued them to give longer. They have already given some longer periods to some of the residents in order to try to find other solutions. We will work very strenuously to try to achieve those solutions with myself, my Cabinet Members and ward Members in the area in Bromley by Bow, Mile End and Stepney in particularly who are affected by this.  

 

Supplementary question from Mr Sean Michael, (put by Jack Gilbert)

 

Many of the workers who are not officially key workers also have key worker roles. East Thames have failed to even allow a general mailing to be sent out to them by third sector agencies to offer health and wellbeing support and advice. There is no mechanism for actually reaching those effected by any third sector agency which means that the health and wellbeing consequences are completely unsupported.

 

Would the Mayor and the Councillors when they meet with the Chief Executive urge her to delay by at least a further three months, the Section 21 notices and also urge them to enable third party correspondence with all effected so that appropriate support and resettlement if necessary for their mental health and wellbeing can be given.

 

Mayor John Biggs response to the supplementary question

 

Once we became aware of this decision we made very strong representations to East Thames. We met at Officer level and with Members and I know that your residents’ groups have been very strenuous in organising themselves and meeting with East Thames as well. We will make those representations. One of the points we made is that every single resident needs be properly taken through the options and East Thames has got a duty to understand what their personal challenges are and what can be done to help solve these problems. There is a bigger problems in Tower Hamlets in that we are  at risk of becoming  a bi polar Borough in the sense that we have housing for people on low income -  social housing, and we have housing for people on very high income and for people who are key workers who are unlikely to achieve priority they are being  squeezed out of our Borough. This is alongside a very large number of people on lower incomes of course.

 

So yes we will make strenuous representations to East Thames and  we think that they should give a longer period and individual counselling. If possible we would like to get in a position where they withdraw the notices to residents and are happy financially and whatever else their apprehension is about the situation they are in so that they can continue. It’s become very apparent what a vital product this is and what a vital opportunity it is to keep people in our Borough from across all of our sectors of our economy and our community.