ON 1ST APRIL, Tower Hamlets Council was 60 years old. On 19th February, Eastenders – the popular BBC soap opera set in roughly the same area, had celebated its 40th birthday. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the two apart. Those ...

REDBRIDGE LABOUR Councillor Sam Gould, who represented Hainult ward, has resigned from the Council – after admitting two counts of indecent exposure at a hearing at Barkingside Magistrates Court last week. Gould, from Hornchurch, had earlier been sacked from his ...

A “PEOPLE’S BUDGET” has been passed by Tower Hamlets Council on Wednesday, 26th February, after nearly three hours of debate. This was the third budget proposed by Mayor Lutfur Rahman since he was elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets, for the ...

ALL COUNCILS are equal – but, under Starmer’s Labour Government, some are more equal than others. The cash-strapped Government that had to axe the Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners has found funds for a selective cash bailout to some failing ...

AN EXECUTIVE MAYOR is accountable to the public who elected them, rather than to the Council. Nonetheless, the Mayor is alloted six minutes every meeting to address the Council. That’s about half an hour a year, or two hours each ...

AT LAST! Tower Hamlets Council’s Children’s Services has been awarded an “outstanding” rating, following an inspection by Ofsted at the end of last year. And Labour stalwarts tried to claim the credit. The Council meeting on 22nd January began with ...

THERE WAS a `businesslike start to the January meeting of Tower Hamlets Council on what was a cold winter’s night. Inside the Chamber, all was somber, with almost everyone dressed in dark colours. Only the Speaker introduced a splash of ...

IT’S NOT just pensioners who need help with fuel costs and other bills. Tower Hamlets relies on local small businesses to provide local jobs and to sell us the goods and services we need. And climbing costs are not helping ...

SAFETY FOR residents and visitors; respect for our heritage; police resources; and road safety were the key concerns of councillors who rejected, for the second time, a planning application to build a new Chinese embassy at Tower Hill. The issue ...

JUST HOW hard should we be on dogs – and their owners – in Tower Hamlets? Over the summer, Tower Hamlets Council has been consulting the public on a new dog-control policy: and dog owners are… barking mad about it. ...