Local Website Shines Light on Councillor Costs

Local resident Dave Coker has put together an excellent website here which sets out all of the Tower Hamlets councillor compensation over the last four years, including breakdowns by ward and party.

Although he has struggled to actually get his hands on the information, he has perservered and this is just the sort of transparency that local people should see. Perhaps someone living in every council area across the country could follow this example!

How Much Do Local Councillors Cost?

I promised some months ago to publish a full list of councillor allowances paid in Tower Hamlets during the current year, and I have now been asked by a number of people to share the information. Although such information is published in East End Life once a year, it appears that it is not the most readily available data when local residents (and tax-payers) request it.

You can read the full table by clicking here, which sets out all 51 councillors and their allowances paid during 2009-2010. However, some pertinent facts, to save you getting the calculator out:

• Of the 51 councillors, 29 will this year receive special responsibility allowances on top of their basic allowance.
• The total paid to the 51 Tower Hamlets councillors for the current year is £807,335.
• This means the average payment to councillors in Tower Hamlets is £15,830.49

It is important that this information is clearly available to local residents, who pick up the bill for these sums of money.

I will pass no further comment on the figures, but would welcome any views when you have read the list.

The "Hijab Gates" - A Local Resident Speaks!

Much has been written in the press (both local national) this week about the Tower Hamlets Council proposals for the so-called "Hijab Gates" at Brick Lane.

The following text is from a letter I received on the subject fron a local resident (who has given me permission to publish this) and I think the content speaks for itself:

"I understand that there is to be a meeting regarding the application for a pair of 'head scarf' style arches to be erected at each end of Brick Lane.


I wish to express my abhorrence to this plan. Before I proceed I would like to make it clear that I myself grew up in Tower Hamlets and my background is Bangladeshi Muslim.


I have viewed pictures of the plans and regard the arches as ugly.


They will not serve to improve the look of Brick Lane in any way. I am getting tired of the way Tower Hamlets Council keeps trying to highlight the fact that Brick Lane is the centre of the Bangladeshi community in London - we all know that, we do not need to be constantly reminded.


The arches exclude other communities that have thrived in the area and I feel that they will create racial tensions. Why do they not concentrate on making the area cleaner and less tacky? And most people would agree that Brick Lane is not the best place to buy a curry. Restaurants need to improve the quality of their cooking.


I would like to see more money spent on the rest of Tower Hamlets. I would also like to see Tower Hamlets Council doing things that make all communities in the borough happy. I was shocked a few years ago when the council decided not to spend money on Christmas lighting because it would offend Muslims - what utter nonsense! I do not know any Muslims who find Christmas lights offensive and creating a lie like this serves only to create racial tension.


I hope that my letter will be taken into account at the planning meeting and thank you for taking time to read it."

You Decide - Episode II

You Decide, the Tower Hamlets Council initiative to help you decide how some of your local taxes are spent, returns this month.

There is a meeting for each LAP area, and for the Isle of Dogs (LAP8) this will be on Tuesday 23rd February (6pm-9pm) at George Green School.

You have to pre-register and you can do so by texting YD followed by your postcode to 60060 or you can telephone 0800 035 1395 (freephone) or you can visit the website at www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/youdecide

As with any form of democracy, you can only get what you want if you take part. Many residents were unhappy at the meeting last year, because they felt there had been some pre-organised campaigns to allocate some of the funds. For instance, the local Police teams on the Isle of Dogs were keen to get some of the budget to help them with specific operations in the local area, but they didn't get the money, unlike some other areas of the borough.

If you feel strongly about how your taxes should be spent and you have views on what the area needs, then register and make your voice heard.

The Skylines is the Limit with Island Development!

A public exhibition at the weekend unveiled the latest development plan for the Isle of Dogs - this time for the office park at Skylines Village, located at the junction of Limeharbour and Marsh Wall.

The development is a large one by any measure - 50 storeys, 806 new homes, a re-provided business centre, a new school with sports facilities, a new hotel, and some open space.

I am concerned by the lack of consultation or community involvement on this project. I received notice of the exhibition on the 3rd February, but quickly realised that this was not a pre-application exhibition - more like a notification process to tell people what had already been submitted. Not very clever!

I am told they had to rush the application in to stop consideration of the existing application at Angel House on Marsh Wall. The latter application had been in the system for some time, so it seems bizarre that another developer can push in an application to halt the actions of a neighbour, and then use that as an excuse for not consulting.

The local view (now drifting into folk lore) has always been that development on the Isle of Dogs would focus around a cluster of tall buildings at Canary Wharf and the heights would gradually tail off to the south of the Island. But that is under constant threat, as the tall buildings around South Quay DLR threaten to expand and spill ever further southwards down the middle of the Island - 50 storeys at Angel House, 50 storeys at Skylines, 30+ storeys at Asda, where next?

Instead of the tall buildings forming a cluster, they look set to form the shape of a cross on the Island - and cross is exactly what local people are about these plans!

Boris Launches Roadwork Permit Scheme - Anything Goes in Tower Hamlets

While sitting in a mile-long queue on Westferry Road today and wondering how it is possible that temporary traffic lights on the Isle of Dogs appear to break down without fail, almost half of London was getting ready to welcome a new roadworks permit scheme.

It was an election pledge from Boris Johnson that utility companies and other organisations should apply for permission before digging the roads up (there are 300,000 holes in London roads every year) and the permit scheme was today launched by 16 London boroughs. If any company digs holes without permission or if they break the conditions of their permit they could be fined.

The scheme will enable Transport for London and the boroughs to coordinate the timing of roadworks and even give companies the opportunity to work on the same sections of road at the same time.

This sounds like a dream for the residents (pedestrians, cyclists and motorists) of the Isle of Dogs but while the list of 16 participating boroughs includes neighbouring boroughs such as Lewisham, Hackney and the City of London, Tower Hamlets is not participating.

So for the moment, the lawless roadworks in East London continue - lets hope that our council signs up to the scheme soon!  

Tower Hamlets Wake Up to Hate Books

After years of living in denial, Tower Hamlets Council has withdrawn
258 talking "hate books" from local libraries, as revealed by Ted
Jeory in the Sunday Express -http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/150772/Library-ban-on-sermons-of-hate

A welcome move but just the beginning.

Top Town Hall Tweeter

An exciting analysis produced this week by http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com lists the top 100 political blogging tweeters in the country. Surprised to see that I am in at number 11 and I think the highest councillor in the list.

1) Alastair Campbell (12,270 followers) 2) John Prescott (10,717 followers) 3) Iain Dale (6,993 followers) 4) Tom Watson MP (6,977 followers) 5) Guido Fawkes (6,300 followers) 6) The Wardman Wire (5,698 followers) 7) Kerry McCarthy (4,451 followers) 8) UK Progressive (4,399 followers) 9) James Cleverly (3,600 followers) 10) Enemies of Reason (3,412 followers) 11) Cllr Phil Briscoe (3,342 followers) 12) Green Girls Global (3,101 followers) 13) Labour List (2,991 followers) 14) Paul Waugh (2,972 followers) 15) Tim Montgomerie (2,968 followers) 16) Tom Harris MP (2,637 followers) 17) Stuart Bruce (2,628 followers) 18) Gideon Rachman (2,240 followers) 19) Obnoxio the Clown (2,147 followers) 20) Lynne Featherstone MP (2,058 followers) 21) A View From the Public Gallery (1,955 followers) 22) Tory Bear (1,884 followers) 23) The Stilettoed Socialist (1,810 followers) 24) Pickled Politics (1,795 followers) 25) Think Politics (1,758 followers) 26) Benedict Brogan (1,655 followers) 27) Jess McCabe (1,540 followers) 28) Cllr Tim Blog (1,497 followers) 29) Bloggerheads (1,478 followers) 30) Mark Pack (1,467 followers) 31) LibDem Voice (1,449 followers) 32) Jon Worth's Euroblog (1,429 followers) 33) Next Left (1,368 followers) 34) Nadine Dorries MP (1,354 followers) 35) Plenty to Say (1,321 followers) 36) Daniel Hannan MEP (1,319 followers) 37) Cllr Lisa Northover (1,265 followers) 38) Kirklees Unity (1,193 followers) 39) Andy Reed MP (1,183 followers) 40) Shane Greer (1,180 followers) 41) Adam Smith Institute Blog (1,173 followers) 42) Liberal Conspiracy (1,172 followers) 43) FT Westminster Blog (1,169 followers) 44) Ed Vaizy MP (1,164 followers) 45) House of Twits (1,162 followers) 46) Douglas Carswell MP (1,137 followers) 47) Greener Leith (1,111 followers) 48) Oberon Houston (1,100 followers) 49) Byrne Baby Byrne (1,092 followers) 50) The Baillieu Blog (1,081 followers) 51) Dizzy Thinks (1,078 followers) 52) The Tory Troll (1,067 followers) 53) No Geek Is An Island (1,054 followers) 54) Bray's Duckhouse (1,018 followers) 55) Tory Politico (1,008 followers) 56) Politics Cymru (988 followers) 57) spEak You're bRanes (971 followers) 58) Andy Reeves' Running Blog (966 followers) 59) Political Scrapbook (957 followers) 60) Will Straw (947 followers) 61) A Very Public Sociologist (936 followers) 62) Boris Watch (936 followers) 63) Left Foot Forward (932 followers) 64) Labour Matters (927 followers) 65) Frank Field MP (909 followers) 66) James O'Malley (904 followers) 67) Mark Reckons (890 followers) 68) Dan Wilson (873 followers) 69) Philippa Latimer for St Ives (873 followers) 70) The Daily Quail (871 followers) 71) Grace Fletcher-Hackwood (867 followers) 72) Martin Bright (867 followers) 73) Stephen Allison (863 followers) 74) Local Democracy Blog (861 followers) 75) Stephen's Linlithgow Journal (848 followers) 76) Byrne Tofferings (837 followers) 77) Martin Tod (798 followers) 78) Labour of Love (788 followers) 79) Liberal Burblings (785 followers) 80) Bethan Jenkins AC/AM (770 followers) 81) Chicken Yoghurt (769 followers) 82) Rob Fenwick (764 followers) 83) Caron's Musings (761 followers) 84) Tory Teenager (744 followers) 85) Cardiff Blogger (740 followers) 86) Angry Mob (737 followers) 87) Penny Red (735 followers) 88) Quaequam Blog! (735 followers) 89) Nick Pickles (733 followers) 90) Mayor Watch (713 followers) 91) Charlotte Gore (696 followers) 92) Luke Bozier (689 followers) 93) David Ottewell (685 followers) 94) Devil's Kitchen (673 followers) 95) Boris Watchers (671 followers) 96) Shot Across the Bow (662 followers) 97) Cynical Dragon (641 followers) 98) Anthony Painter (633 followers) 99) Bridget's Blog (603 followers) 100) Arbitrary Consent (595 followers)

Tower Hamlets Takes Stand Against London City Airport

At the full Tower Hamlets Council meeting last night, agreement was reached on taking a harder line on the expansion of London City Airport.

Following a question from me about representation on the consultative committee, and then a motion proposed by myself and colleagues, the Labour councillors caved in and offered their own amended version of the motion.

All sides accepted the amended wording (text below) and agreement was reached. Tonight was a good night for the residents of Tower Hamlets who have campaigned long and hard to make their voices heard by the council. 

FULL TEXT OF AMENDED & APPROVED MOTION


This Council notes that:


• In 2006, London City Airport had a total of 79,436 aircraft movements


• Since then the airport has continued to expand and residents in some parts of the Borough, especially Poplar, Bow and the Isle of Dogs, are now suffering from a significant increase in the noise disturbance caused by planes to and from London City Airport flying overhead


• In July 2009 the London Borough of Newham granted planning permission to increase London City Airport’s total number of aircraft movements to 120,000 a year, a 50% increase on 2006 levels


• This Council raised serious concerns on behalf of residents in its submission to the July 2009 planning application but this wasn’t counted as a formal objection to the application


This Council further notes that:


• London City Airport is now consulting on its Noise Action Plan 2009-2014 but that this plan proposes only limited measures to avoid, prevent or reduce noise


• In response to complaints from other East London boroughs, the Civil Aviation Authority is reviewing a new flight path and that, should this flight path be removed, flights over Tower Hamlets council increase further


This Council resolves to:


• Oppose any further expansion of London City Airport


• To engage in discussions about flight paths with London City Airport, the Civil Aviation Authority and other partners to ensure that changes to flight paths don’t materially disadvantage Tower Hamlets residents


• To publicise in East End Life the current consultation on the London City Airport Noise Action Plan 2009-2014 and to encourage residents to make their views known to the airport


• To actively seek the views of residents about this issue to inform the Council’s response to the consultation


• To respond to this consultation, highlighting the disturbance and nuisance being caused by noise from the airport and to seek further noise reduction and mitigation measures as part of the plan

East End Life speech goes......undelivered!

An amusing story in PR Week magazine last week:
"The CIPR Local Public Services Conference in Edinburgh was enjoyed by
all, especially Chris Payne, head of commercial operations at Tower
Hamlets Council. Fun-loving Chris whooped it up at the traditional
Ceilidh dance on Thursday night. But we couldn't help noticing that he
missed the 10am presentation he was giving on local newspapers the
next day. Oops...."

Perhaps his absence was a deliberate example of the non-delivery of
East End Life!

Banned in Bangladesh but meeting in Tower Hamlets

Controversial radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain held an emergency meeting in Tower Hamlets this week,  to discuss the fact that activities by their group have recently been banned in Bangladesh. The country joins a long list of nations who have outlawed the organisation, but unfortunately that list does not yet include the UK.

The group, which promotes non-participation in western democracy and an international Islamic state, has been banned in many countries including Pakistan, Turkey, Denmark, Russia and in Germany for spreading anti-Semitic propoganda. Tony Blair made unfinished moves to ban them in 2005, and David Cameron has urged the government to see that ban through saying, "People simply won't understand why an organisation urging people to kill all Jews hasn't been banned."

In 2007, I sought and received assurances from Tower Hamlets Council, that Hizb ut-Tahrir would be banned from using any council rooms or venues.


Speaking at the event this week,  Mujibul Islam of the Bangladesh Committee of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, urged friends and family to lobby to have the ban overturned so that they could set about and "..establish a progressive Islamic Khilafah State in Bangladesh."

I for one, have heard the call, which is why I am publishing this post and publicising the local activities of this unacceptable group again. They need to be banned in this country too, and Tower Hamlets should be at the forefront of driving them out, rather than fostering their growth.

Lifting News for Tower Hamlets

News published yesterday revealed that 1 in 10 of the calls attended by London firefighters in the last year were to rescue people trapped in lifts.

In the league table of London boroughs, Tower Hamlets topped the poll again, with 1,688 call-outs to rescue people from lifts between October 2008 and September 2009. This compares to those at the bottom of the league table, such as Harrow, Kingston and Havering, who each had less than 100 call-outs.

Aside from my personal cause for concern (campaigning and casework visits means lots of lifts which equals a higher risk of getting trapped), this says a lot about the local maintenance of the buildings we expect people to live in.

And once again, Tower Hamlets proves it has the "John and Edward" X-Factor - always at the top of the league, but not for the right reasons!