Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council | |
|---|---|
| File:Tower Hamlets arms.png Coat of arms | |
 Council logo | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses | Unicameral |
| History | |
| Founded | 1 April 1965 |
| Preceded by | Bethnal Green Borough Council Poplar Borough Council Stepney Borough Council |
New session started | 3 May 2018 (Municipal year 2018/19) |
| Leadership | |
Lutfur Rahman, Aspire since 5 May 2022 | |
Victoria Obaze since May 2019 | |
Chief executive | Will Tuckley since 27 August 2015 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 45 councillors |
 | |
Council political groups | Executive (24)
Opposition (21)
|
Length of term | Executive mayor elected every four years Whole council elected every four years |
| Elections | |
Council voting system | Plurality-at-large |
Mayor voting system | Supplementary vote |
Last Council election | 3 May 2018 |
Next Council election | 5 May 2022 |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| Town Hall, Mulberry Place (the council is due to move to the Whitechapel Civic Centre in 2022)[1] | |
| Website | |
| www | |
| Constitution | |
| Council constitution | |
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, currently Lutfur Rahman.
Following the May 2014 election, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council was composed of 22 Labour Party members, 19 Tower Hamlets First members and 5 Conservative Party members.[2] Following the removal of Lutfur Rahman as mayor and Alibor Choudhury as councillor, Tower Hamlets First was removed from the Electoral Commission register of political parties, with Labour's Sabina Akhtar replacing Choudhury as councillor for Stepney Green and John Biggs replacing Rahman as Mayor, following the by-elections in June 2015.[3][4] Lutfur Rahman was again elected as Mayor in the 2022 London Borough elections, beating incumbent Labour Mayor John Biggs.[5]
The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced three local authorities: Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough Council, Poplar Metropolitan Borough Council and Stepney Metropolitan Borough Council.
History
There have previously been a number of local authorities responsible for the Tower Hamlets area. The current local authority was first elected in 1964, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets on 1 April 1965. Tower Hamlets London Borough Council replaced Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough Council, Poplar Metropolitan Borough Council and Stepney Metropolitan Borough Council. All three had been created in 1900, in Bethnal Green the borough council replaced the parish vestry and in Poplar the council replaced the board of works; both authorities had been incorporated by the Metropolis Management Act 1855. Stepney had a more convoluted history with the metropolitan borough council established in 1900 replacing the Limehouse District Board of Works, the Whitechapel District Board of Works and the parish vestries of Mile End Old Town and St George in the East.[6]
It was envisaged that through the London Government Act 1963 Tower Hamlets as a London local authority would share power with the Greater London Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the local authorities responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection. This arrangement lasted until 1986 when Tower Hamlets London Borough Council gained responsibility for some services that had been provided by the Greater London Council, such as waste disposal. Tower Hamlets became an education authority in 1990. Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions.[7]
In September 2008, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council named two tower blocks in Sidney Street Peter House and Painter House, even though Peter the Painter was only involved in a minor capacity in the robbery, was not present at the siege of Sidney Street, and may not have existed at all. A local councillor and the Metropolitan Police Federation protested against this, saying that he should not be honoured.[8]
Following a local referendum on 6 May 2010, a directly elected executive mayor system of local government commenced with the election on 21 October 2010 of Lutfur Rahman as mayor. Rahman was re-elected at the 2014 mayoral election, but the result of this election was cancelled and declared null and void on 23 April 2015 when the Election Court officially reported Rahman to be guilty of corrupt or illegal practices, or both (electoral fraud) under the Representation of the People Act 1983.[9][10] He was thus removed from his office with immediate effect and was also personally debarred from standing for elected office until 2021.[11][12] A BBC article in 2018 stated that "Police investigating electoral fraud during the 2014 Tower Hamlets mayoral election have not found sufficient evidence to charge anyone".[13]
Powers and functions
The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation, and has the powers and functions of a London borough council. It sets council tax and as a billing authority also collects precepts for Greater London Authority functions and business rates.[14] It sets planning policies which complement Greater London Authority and national policies, and decides on almost all planning applications accordingly. It is a local education authority and is also responsible for council housing, social services, libraries, waste collection and disposal, traffic, and most roads and environmental health.[15]
Policies
From 1986 to 1994 the council experimented with decentralisation of services to seven neighbourhood areas.[16]
Summary results of elections
Previous election results are as follows:
| Election | Overall control | Conservative | Labour | Lib Dem | Others | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022[17] | Aspire | 1 | 19 | – | 25 | |
| 2018[18] | Labour | 2 | 42 | – | 1 | |
| 2014 | No overall control | 5 | 22 | – | 18 | |
| 2010 | Labour | 8 | 41 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2006 | Labour | 7 | 26 | 6 | 12 | |
| 2002 | Labour | – | 35 | 16 | – | |
| 1998 | Labour | – | 41 | 9 | – | |
| 1994 | Labour | – | 43 | 7 | – | |
| 1990 | Liberal Democrat | – | 20 | 30 | – | |
| 1986 | Liberal/SDP Alliance | – | 24 | 26 | – | |
| 1982 | Labour | – | 31 | 18 | 1 | |
| 1978 | Labour | – | 43 | 7 | – | |
| 1974 | Labour | – | 60 | – | – | |
| 1971 | Labour | – | 60 | – | – | |
| 1968 | Labour | – | 57 | – | 3 | |
| 1964 | Labour | – | 55 | – | 5 | |
List of councillors
The councillors before the 2022 elections were as follows:[19]
| Ward | Councillor | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor of Tower Hamlets | John Biggs | Mayor of Tower Hamlets | |
| Bethnal Green | Ahbab Hossain | ||
| Sirajul Islam | Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing | ||
| Eve McQuillan | Mayoral Advisor for Tackling Poverty & Inequality | ||
| Blackwall & Cubitt Town | Ehtasham Haque | ||
| Mohammed Pappu | |||
| Candida Roland | Cabinet Member for Resources and the Voluntary Sector | ||
| Bow East | Amina Ali | Cabinet Member for Culture, Arts and Brexit | |
| Rachel Blake | Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Air Quality | ||
| Marc Francis | |||
| Bow West | Asma Begum | Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Equalities | |
| Val Whitehead | |||
| Bromley North | Zenith Rahman | ||
| Dan Tomlinson | |||
| Bromley South | Danny Hassell | Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Young People | |
| Helal Uddin | |||
| Canary Wharf | Kyrsten Perry | ||
| Andrew Wood | Leader of the Conservative Group; resigned in 2020.[20] | ||
| Island Gardens | Mufeedah Bustin | ||
| Peter Golds | |||
| Lansbury | Kahar Chowdhury | ||
| Muhammad Harun | |||
| Bex White | |||
| Limehouse | James King | ||
| Mile End | David Edger | Cabinet Member for Environment | |
| Asam Islam | Mayoral Advisor for Young People | ||
| Puru Miah | |||
| Poplar | Sufia Alam | ||
| Shadwell | Ruhul Amin | Cabinet Member for Environment | |
| Rabina Khan | Elected as People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets; switched to the Liberal Democrats in August 2018 | ||
| Spitalfields & Banglatown | Shad Chowdhury | ||
| Leema Qureshi | |||
| St Dunstan's | Dipa Das | ||
| Ayas Miah | Speaker of the Council | ||
| St Katharine's & Wapping | Denise Jones | Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing | |
| Abdal Ullah | |||
| St Peter's | Kevin Brady | ||
| Tarik Khan | |||
| Gabriela Salva Macallan | |||
| Stepney Green | Sabina Akhtar | Mayoral Advisor for Community & Voluntary Sector | |
| Motin Uz-Zaman | Cabinet Member for Work and Economic Growth | ||
| Weavers | Abdul Mukit MBE | ||
| John Pierce | |||
| Whitechapel | Faroque Ahmed | ||
| Shah Ameen | |||
| Victoria Obaze | |||
See also
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets
- Mayor of Tower Hamlets
- List of public art in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
References
- ^ "Bouygues starts Tower Hamlets town hall project". Construction Index. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ "Local Elections – Thursday, 22nd May, 2014". Tower Hamlets Council. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ^ "Stepney Green – Thursday, 11th June, 2015". Tower Hamlets Council. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ^ "Tower Hamlets election: Labour's John Biggs named mayor - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ "Lutfur Rahman wins Tower Hamlets mayor vote after five-year ban". The Guardian. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England. Vol. I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.
- ^ Leach, Steve (1998). Local Government Reorganisation: The Review and its Aftermath. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN 978-0714648590.
- ^ Cockcroft, Lucy (25 September 2008). "Tower Blocks Named after Notorious Criminal Linked to Police Killings". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016.
- ^ Tom Whitehead (23 April 2015). "Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman guilty of corrupt and illegal practices over election". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
- ^ Parliament of the United Kingdom (8 February 1983), The Representation of the People Act 1983, Chapter 2 (as amended on the 23rd. July 2015), Part III, Section 159, London: The National Archives, Ministry of Justice, HM Government, retrieved 23 July 2015
- ^ Tower Hamlets election fraud mayor Lutfur Rahman removed from office, BBC News, British Broadcasting Corporation, 23 April 2015, retrieved 25 July 2015
- ^ Mike Brooke (29 April 2015), Rahman's 'Tower Hamlets First' is removed from Electoral Commission's party register, The Docklands and East London Advertiser, retrieved 25 July 2015
- ^ "No charges after Tower Hamlets electoral fraud probe". 7 September 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Council Tax and Business Rates Billing Authorities". Council Tax Rates. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
- ^ "Local Plan Responses – within and outside London". Mayor of London. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- ^ Dench, Geoff (2006). The new East End : kinship, race and conflict. London: Profile. ISBN 1861979282.
- ^ "Local Elections - Thursday, 5th May, 2022". Tower Hamlets London Borough Council.
- ^ "Tower Hamlets London Borough Council". BBC News.
- ^ "Mayor and Councillors". Tower Hamlets Council. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
eastlondonadvertiser1was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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