 It has been a year since I became Mayor of Tower Hamlets again - and what a busy year it has been! In addition to overseeing the delivery of day-to-day services on which residents and businesses depend, we've made a great start in delivering one of the most ambitious agendas in local government.
Work is well underway on the insourcing of Tower Hamlets Homes, youth services and leisure centres, while we also brought back the Educational Maintenance Allowance and University Bursaries for young people.
I’m proud that we have also been able to expand our free school meals programme to all secondary schools – making Tower Hamlets the only local authority in the country to do this.
We have also helped our residents during the cost-of-living crisis, allocating and distributing £6m in payments from council and government funds to support our most vulnerable residents while also freezing council tax outside of the Adult Social Care precept.
We are actively working to make Tower Hamlets safer, with upgrades to nearly 300 CCTV cameras across the borough to help fight crime and antisocial behaviour. Additionally, the council has funded 7,779 hours of additional uniformed police patrols.
We have supported local businesses with grants to help them become more energy efficient and we’ve invested £5m for new electric waste vehicles and EV charging points across the borough, as part of a programme to make Tower Hamlets a cleaner and greener borough.
We have been listening as a council too, with more than 11,000 participants taking part in 80 consultations, and I’ve had the chance to meet in person around 500 people a month at my surgeries, which take place twice a week.
We all have a part to play in creating a better Tower Hamlets, and my thanks go to everyone who has played their part in helping us achieve so much in just twelve months.
We still have more work to do, but I am optimistic about what we will achieve for our great borough in the year ahead.
Lutfur Rahman
Mayor of Tower Hamlets
 Fantastic, free half-term fun
Join us for an action-packed week of free family fun this half term! Our parks and sports teams are gearing up to bring you an awesome lineup of activities from May 29 to June 4.
Get ready for artsy adventures, thrilling playtime, cooking craziness, cool canoeing and exciting pond dipping. No matter your age, there will be something just for you. Don't miss out on the summer blast - come along and make magical memories with us!
 New Tower Hamlets Speaker elected at AGM
The new Speaker was confirmed as Councillor Jahed Choudhury, following our Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Whitechapel Town Hall last week. Councillor Choudhury, who represents Lansbury ward, said: “It is an honour to know that colleagues are placing their faith in me to be an ambassador for Tower Hamlets, a place I’ve called my home for 40 years, and I’m really proud to live here.”
The new Deputy Speaker is Councillor Saif Uddin Khaled, and there were some changes to the current cabinet portfolios and chairs of several key council committees.
 Head on over to the free Festival of Communities
The Festival of Communities is returning on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June, for a weekend of free family fun.
Local organisations and students from the Queen Mary University of London will run hands-on activities that showcase local creativity, research and community initiatives. Enjoy free face painting, games, inflatables, and much more.
 Vape shop fined for selling e-vape to a child
A vape shop owner was fined £200 for selling an e-vape to a 14-year-old.
Mohammed Ferdhaus, director of Cloudz Vapes Ltd, which runs Cloudz Vapes on Roman Road, pleaded guilty to one count of selling an e-cigarette to a person under 18 years old.
The sale occurred during an underage sales test purchasing exercise, carried out by our Trading Standards officers and the Met Police on 3 October 2022. The law prohibits the sale of vapes that contain nicotine to people under the age of 18.
 Thanks for making National Numeracy Day a big success
A huge thank you to all staff and residents who participated in our activities last week to support National Numeracy Day.
The week was a great success, with more than 240 entries to our 'Guess the number of sweets' competition.
At our event on Wednesday 17 May at Idea Store Whitechapel, residents engaged in a wide range of activities, including making draft excluders to save money, planting seeds to grow vegetables and making their own jewellery.
 Free school meals to be rolled out in secondary schools
We are the first borough in England to offer free school meals to all school pupils up to the age of 16, following the formal approval of the proposal at a Cabinet meeting on 24 May.
The scheme will be implemented in three phases starting from September 2023.
It will provide vital support during the cost-of-living crisis, saving families an average of £550 per year per child.
Thank you for reading
We hope you have found this bulletin useful. Share this with your family and friends to ensure they have the latest information. Anyone can subscribe using this link.
|
