Labour red-faced as stunt falls flat

ELN:  Labour has a dogged history of claiming to be the Party which can make the Borough “cleaner, greener and safer”. So when the Mayor started to release statistics on how much cleaner the Borough had become since he had invested in new teams and equipment, Labour smelled a rat. Teams of councillors and Labour Party members went round the Borough finding litter and clearing it up. How could the Mayor claim the Borough was cleaner, they asked, given that Labour had found so much litter?

The Mayor pointed out that he was not inventing the cleanliness statistics. Local Environmental Quality Surveys had been done by the Muslim Women’s Collective, and these showed that cleanliness in the Borough was improving.

Labour was not impressed by the monitoring work of the Muslim Women’s Collective. Photos of Labour’s endeavours were plastered over twitter and websites, showing how much rubbish they had found.

Cabinet Members wondered whether Labour’s perception of the Borough’s cleanliness was formed by their immediate surroundings. Cabinet trips to the Labour enclave of Bow were organised where, indeed, pockets of litter and fly-tipping were found. Discussions were held with Bow residents, who confirmed that some of the worst areas had been that way for weeks. Cabinet Members then began asking questions. Other parts of the Borough were clean not because people had stopped dropping litter, but because when there was a problem, councillors were phoning the “Find it, fix it” teams and getting the litter removed. Why were Bow councillors not reporting their problem areas?  Why did they not trust Council staff to come and clean up in Bow and feel they had to do it themselves and report their efforts on Twitter?

This ding-dong of a schoolboy spat (which characterises so much of political debate in the Town Hall) has now been interrupted by a report from the Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM). As part of their Clean Britain Awards, CIWM reps made an unannounced trip to the Borough and secretly inspected ten areas, looking for a range of litter and waste problems. They awarded Tower Hamlets a 4 star cleanliness rating – just short of the top rating of 5 stars. The awards report commented that: “The overall impression of the borough was that of a largely litter free area where clearly everyone: street cleaners, businesses and visitors have been engaged and are working together to improve their environment.” (The efforts of the Labour Group seem not to have earned a mention.)

Though Labour was prepared to look down its nose at the surveys conducted by the Muslim Women’s Collective, they will find it hard to “rubbish” the CIWM report.

Labour was not available for comment on this story. However, earlier this year ELN visited the Labour Party offices in Cambridge Heath Road (briefly; you may recall that we were asked to leave the Labour Group press conference being held there, as Labour wished to give information only to its chosen media outlets). On looking back at our photos, we have found clear evidence of a number of cigarette butts on the road outside the Labour offices – just under the cigarette butt bin on the wall. We’re giving Labour a week to clean up their own front yard: if not, ELN reporters will be down there to do it for them and to post the results on Twitter.  After all, Labour: you don’t want to let the Borough down, do you?

•For more information on how residents and businesses can report litter problems, to get involved in tackling litter locally or to arrange a community education event call 020 7364 5004 or visit www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/litter.

 This article is the lead story in the new issue of East London News.  To read East London News online, click the picture under “read issue online” at the top of the page.