Mayor Lutfur Rahman has received a late Valentine’s gift: front page billing on the Evening Standard today. I’ve been waiting for the figures on his team of mayoral advisers, but the Standard has beaten me to it.
Here’s the detail of their story and I’ll add my bits underneath.
By Tom Harper and Simon Freeman
15 Feb 2012
One of the poorest boroughs in London today came under fire for spending £1,000 a day on a personal aide for its mayor.
Tony Winterbottom is an “executive adviser” on regeneration and development to Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets who was ousted from the Labour Party over alleged links to Islamic extremists.
Local government secretary Eric Pickles accused Mr Rahman of wasting taxpayer money. He said: “It is astonishing that one of the poorest boroughs in the country sees fit to squander such colossal amounts of public cash in this way.
“Tower Hamlets seems to be living the ultimate champagne socialist lifestyle, leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab. I fail to see the business case for shelling out this money, which should be diverted towards protecting frontline services.”
Tower Hamlets has the worst child poverty in the UK, with 52 per cent of children below the breadline. Campaigners warned planned £70 million cuts to the local budget could cause an “economic and social disaster”.
Mr Winterbottom, 67, insisted he was not overpaid and was “embarrassed to be charging so little”.
Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, said: “At a time when Tower Hamlets is being buffeted by cuts from central government, every penny is precious and a £1,000-a-day contract seems to be way over the top.” London Mayor Boris Johnson said: “I’d better investigate the circumstances but it sounds like a lot of money to me.”
A former adviser to Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone, Mr Winterbottom won the contract to advise Mr Rahman last October. An investigation by the Evening Standard found the £1,000-a-day deal is with LDP Projects, run by him and his wife, Kathleen, based at his home in Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire.
The consultant works three days a month for Tower Hamlets.
Emma Boon, campaign director of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Deals like this for consultants should not be allowed at a time when the rest of the public sector is taking a pay freeze.”
Mr Winterbottom was previously a senior official at the defunct London Development Agency. He was criticised in 2008 after he left on a year’s sabbatical, followed by a £75,000 pay-off and £160,000 top-up to his pension fund. An investigation into the LDA, ordered by Boris Johnson and headed by former financial journalist Baroness Wheatcroft, found a string of failings including “ineptitude” and “massive misspending”.
Mr Rahman became the first directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2010. He originally stood as a Labour candidate, but was deselected amid claims about his links with fundamentalist group the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE). He has denied the allegations. He won the poll as an independent backed by Mr Livingstone, and controls a £1.3 billion budget.
Mr Winterbottom, who has also advised Tottenham Hotspur on stadium development, said: “I’m embarrassed the Standard knows I am charging so little. My company has done work in the private sector for a lot more than £1,000 a day.”
He claimed he would not ask for the full amount: “I tendered a bid for £1,000 a day. In reality, I get paid £125 an hour but I have not yet put in an invoice. I wanted them to respect me as an individual so I asked them to pay me a proper price but I’m not going to charge them.
“I’m absolutely squeaky clean. This is not a money-making operation. This is about fighting for Lutfur Rahman who’s trying to do good work.”
A Tower Hamlets spokesman said: “We do not comment on payment of individual employees unless the information is on the council website as part of our responsibility towards transparency.”
I don’t know who’s more arrogant here – the Mayor for allowing this to happen, or Winterbottom for his “Because I’m worth it” comments (no, he’s not).
Both are out of touch, and, I have to say, so is Eric Pickles. He’s been warned repeatedly that the directly elected mayor system of government can have unintended consequences, yet he is still pushing ahead with Super Thursday this November when 11 other authorities will follow the likes of Tower Hamlets and Newham.
Since becoming Mayor, Lutfur has spent a fair degree of time converting himself to semi-royal status. Among other things, he has spent more than £100k on an office revamp, moved the Speaker’s office to a shoe-box and hired a luxury Mercedes for £70 a day.
Then, at the full council meeting last month, he refused to answer any questions put to him by other councillors because he seemed to think he was above such accountability. (Actually, advice was also given by John Williams, the council’s usually excellent head of democratic services, that Lutfur didn’t have to answer questions because there were “human rights issues”. The council has confirmed to me that John said that but it has refused to elaborate what those issues are.)
And in his 16 months in charge, he has also built an army of advisers, with Winterbottom now being the star attraction. Tory leader Peter Golds has been looking into this for quite a while.
I was sent a full list of names a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been waiting to put some numbers against them.
Here’s the list with local government grades, salaries and job descriptions:
1. Permanent staff or temporary staff covering permanent established posts:
– Murziline Parchment (Head of Mayor’s Office) – LPO8 30 hours p.w. (£57,111 to £59,982 p.a. pro rata)– Shazid Miah (Mayor’s Community Liaison Officer) – PO6 (£42,258 to £44,910 p.a.)(1 vacant post – Mayor’s Political Advisor) (PO1, statutory bar at £34,986)2. Secondees:– Ger Francis (CLC) – (Comensura temp, PO2 equivalent, £32,532 to £35,055 p.a.)– Kerry Geeves (D&R) – (PO2)– Saiful Ahmed (CLC) – (Comensura temp, SO2 equivalent t.b.c.)– Mazerul Alam (CLC) – (Comensura temp, SO2 equivalent t.b.c.)– (Ellie Kuper Thomas based in SPP team)3. Work experience student (2 week placement)Name removed by TJ to protect identity of under-18 year old .4. Mayoral Advisors (NB these are not Council staff but contractors engaged on a part-time basis)– Tony Winterbottom – Advisor on major projects, enterprise and development for approximately three days per month at a cost of £1,000 per day.– Steven Beckett – Advisor on surgeries and community consultation for two days per week at a cost of £150 per day– Gulam Robbani – Advisor on adult social care and health for one day per week at a cost of £40 per hour– Mark Seddon – Advisor on media and communications strategy for one day per week at a cost of £200 per day– Mohammed Jubair – Advisor on community media matters for one day per week at a cost of £175 per day.– Amirul Choudhury – Advisor on small businesses, Olympics and enterprise for a maximum of 40 hours at a cost of £25 per hour– Suroth Miah – Advisor on sports and sports participation and improving the quality of life for a maximum of 40 hours at a cost of £25 per hour– Michael Ambrose – Advisor on youth engagement and sponsorship of youth engagement for a maximum of 100 hours at a cost of £25 per hour– Shahid Malik – Advisor on equalities matters for one day per week at a cost of £200 per day.
He’s from Camden (for his sins) and he and his similarly politically active brother Conrad believe themselves to be the new Miliband brothers, I am told…Axel Landin – Advisor on boundary review matters at a cost of £8.39 per hour.
Trial by Jeory 
Peter Gold is brilliant. Wish there was more like him on the Council.
Winterbottom is a serious big-hitter in the development industry.
Aside from working for Tottenham, as the article notes, he was heavily involved with the Olympics project at the GLA.
As ridiculous as some of the quotes look, if you do the sums properly they are effectively paying him about £30K a year. That’s pretty good value, especially considering Housing is the number 1 priority and TH is building more social homes than anywhere else. Well done Tony. Will Mr Pickles, and Mr Johnson, enlighten us as to how much they pay their most expensive consultants?
Come off it Steve – for a three day moth that’s £260k pro-rata
Before anybody comes on here and slags of Stephen Beckett (p not v) I just wanted to say that whilst he’s a bit of a lefty (more than a bit) he does an awful lot for Tower Hamlets residents and is a fantastic community organiser. Were it not for him I think Emperor Rahman would have made even more of a hash of things than he has.
Lots of ‘low politics’ that council mandarins and unfortunately too many Cllrs aren’t interested in, KEMP, housing problems free schools etc. I’m surprised sometimes at how many Lead Members and Shadow Lead members don’t seem to know what’s going on/ what other councils are doing.
@ Steve O’Driscoll
You’re right he is a big hitter in the development industry and I’m sure you know far more about him than me but despite just hatching out of an eggshell he really isn’t very well respected at least not anymore. Lots of tourism and FDI blunders. Not sure he’s worth that especially when council staff are probably more than capable, RD consultants are ten a penny…
The contract to hire a consultant on Regeneration and Development raises a number of issues. Firstly, when we (that is the honest taxpayer) already pay £100,000/annum for a Head of Strategy, Regeneration and Sustainability, plus a further £700,000/annum in salaries to the combined heads of other Development and Renewal departments, why do we need a consultant? Who challenged this appointment?
Secondly, we need to look more closely at the mandate Lutfur Rahman, who we are led to believe made this appointment, actually holds. Just 13% of the electorate in Tower Hamlets voted for Lutfur Rahman as Mayor: that’s right, just 13% and based on this astonishingly low level of support he was gifted the position of Chief Executive.
On a reputed salary equivalent to £725/day (based on 248 working days/year and an annual salary of £180,000), he overseas a £1b+ annual budget without ever having to undergo the rigours of an executive selection criteria that shareholders demand in the corporate world. This is the unacceptable face of democracy.
To be fair, responsibility for this state of affairs is to shared between a dysfunctional electoral system that permits a candidate to be elected on such a small percentage of the popular vote, and 75% of the electorate of Tower Hamlets who didn’t consider it important enough to go out and vote.
Under this Mayor’s autocratic management style, we are left to assume the £1k/day contract to Mr Winterbottom – not vastly dissimilar to his own – slipped by any presentation to council; all of whom are there to represent our interests.
We must all be aware of the merit or otherwise of the person representing this Borough at the highest level, and the weaknesses of the (democratic) system that permits such an individual to assume this position of authority and responsibility without the due diligence of rigorous selection..
Change is needed to the way we run our borough. We demand a system of governance that embraces efficiency, honesty, and integrity; a system that we can rely on and trust. We owe it to our children so that they will inherit a borough to be proud of.
If you’ll forgive me, Ted, I think the full picture can be given by referring back to this older post in July last year.
https://trialbyjeory.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/more-advisers-for-lutfur-rahman/
The original contract (which was due to start in August – why the delay to starting in October?) was for £35-£40,000 for all 4 areas of consultancy. Is Winterbottom on an 8 month consultancy as outlined in the contract or is there another defined period or an ongoing contract? £30,000 a year pro rata for 8 months might just fit within the original call to tender but £30,000 a year on an ongoing basis or for an annual contract would mean big overspending.
Also, who else bid for these contracts? Note my comments on the original post in July 2011 about the deadlines that would have to be met for bids to be considered, shortlisted and pitched, and accepted in time to start in August. Sounds like there was a stitch-up.
I have absolutely no time for Eric Pickles (whose name is still hated in Bradford council, decades after he led and wrecked it, abusing the democratic process in the meantime) and even less for the Taxpayers Alliance.
However, the question has to be why does a council leader need so many advisers? In answer to Steve O’Driscoll questioning Eric Pickles’ expenditure: any consultants employed by the civil service will have been cut back to the bone. Eric Pickles won’t be employing any consultants himself (ie in his ministerial office). He does employ special advisers (and I have to assume has a small Parliamentary staff to deal with constituency issues – check the w4anMP website for payscales – if they are paid at all, Parliament being notorious for internships).
When I last looked I believe Pickles had only 2 special advisers – the people whose role would be closest to the role of the 9 to 14 advisers listed above (I’m leaving out the head of the Mayor’s office, community liaison officer and political adviser since all council leaders can reasonably be expected to have those).
Lutfur’s number of advisers is more akin to No 10 Downing Street (no matter what the political shade of the incumbent)!!! And No 10 can justify it – Lutfur can’t.
If you were to ask about the consultants and advisers employed by other council leaders across London I very much doubt you would find up to 14 individuals working for any one of them. (In fact I know of at least one neighbouring borough which does not – and has a more effective and more renowned leader). Other council leaders (whether or not they are mayors) depend on the services of their council officers.
Are the officers, up to director level, at Tower Hamlets incompetent? Or is there no relationship of trust between them and the Mayor’s office? I think we should be told.
I’m just waiting for somebody to ask an intelligent question of the Council about how much extra this particular Mayor is costing this Council.
As opposed to the conventional system where we have Councillors, a leader and people who actually get on and get the job done.
You just know there’s got to be a lot of money being wasted when the adviser, when asked about his daily fee answers “I’m embarrassed the Standard knows I am charging so little.”
He has absolutely no need to worry – after an answer like that he won’t ever be earning in excess of that in the private sector in future.
Another thought – I wonder if HM Revenue and Customs read your blog Ted?
Assuming everybody named above is declaring all their income to all relevant parties and sticking to all the rules on allowable expenses they should have nothing to worry about…….
“Under Boris, the total number of City Hall officials earning more than £100,000 has nearly doubled to 28 at the same time as he has significantly raised transport fares. One example is Munira Mirza, Boris’s 34-year-old adviser on culture and youth, who last year when she expanded her role received a 55 per cent pay rise from £80,000 to £127,784. As a mayoral adviser, she now earns just £7,000 less than the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Other City Hall officials on the same salary include Dan Ritterband, director of marketing, and Pamela Chesters, adviser on health and families, neither of whom is well-known or presides over core mayoral responsibilities. They earn up to £30,000 more than key Downing Street advisers, even the PM’s director of strategy Steve Hilton (on £90,000).”
More here: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24035648-ken-still-casts-a-long-shadow-over-boriss-city-hall.do
How on aerth can the Standard justify the prominence it gave to Tony Winterbottom’s pay compared with this?
How can you justify Lutfur’s failure as a leader – evidenced by the fact that he needs so many people to advise him?
Is ‘Michael Ambrose’ the former Charlton footballer, Mickey?
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/football/mickey_ambrose_pays_tribute_to_late_mother_after_palace_visit_1_796288
This is hilarious!!
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=wK0531mJi2D0&PBID=9818a089-581b-4a32-aca3-057ae08b1168&skip=
Page 3
They’ve repeatedly misspelt ‘crony’! Have they made all the subs at the ELA redundant, Ted?
Maybe that’s the Irish spelling…
You mean like Whiskey/Whisky? 🙂
yes
[…] Trial by Jeory has the low down on Tower Hamlets Council’s high pay scandal. […]
With respect to tax and NI – the relevant bit of Guidance for those contractors/employees with a “need to know” is IR35
The link is here HM Revenue and Customs – Intermediaries Legislation (IR35) – Working through an intermediary, such as a Personal Service Company http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ir35/
The aim of the legislation is to make sure that all those who maintain they are companies – but actually only work to all intents and purposes for one employer – do not avoid the payment of tax in the normal way ie PAYE.
The clue as to whether tax and NI are due from the Council comes in the way they are regarded by and treated by the organisation. For example any responsible auditor or tax inspector would be prompted to start asking questions when statements are made such as……
A Tower Hamlets spokesman said: “We do not comment on payment of individual employees unless the information is on the council website as part of our responsibility towards transparency.”
Now there’s a neat little twist to this particular tax guideline. There is also a liability on the part of the organisation which contracts them as well as those who offer their services. I certainly know of a local authority who ran foul of IR35 and ended up having to pay all the back tax and employers NI over to HM Revenue and Customs – on the basis that the payment made to the individual was their net salary – because they were actually an employee and not “an adviser”.
Failure to spot all those cases where IR35 is applicable and hence tax and NI is due but has not been paid, then makes the payment of what’s due to the Revenue “ultra vires” (ie beyond the power of the budget holder) if there is no identified and approved budget for it – and a virement of budget to pay for it is not sanctioned by full Council. It’s a disciplinary issue too.
The Revenue are happy to provide an opinion of the status of an individual’s “employment”. Note that “The fact that a person is found to be an employee for tax and, or NICs purposes does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that he or she is an employee for other purposes. “
It’s also worth noting that the lid is being blown off Whitehall right now with respect to tax avoidance schemes being employed by other advisers.
The issue is value for money – and the highly irregular if not fraudulent use of taxpayers money – which is a theme I’m apt to bang on about from time to time on this blog! 🙂
It’s always wise to remember one little mantra – “Just because everybody else is doing it, doesn’t make it OK”. (eg MPs expenses claims; phonehacking by journalists, rioters shoplifting etc etc)
Current issue of Private Eye (Rotten Boroughs) ‘Taxing Times’ is on civil servants dubbing themselves ‘external consultants’ and forming private limited companies to dodge tax etc. The Eye says:
It then goes on to £155,000 a year Dave Burbage at Isle of Wight council, formerly at Newham and his “tax-efficient” Dave Burbage Consulting Ltd. which also allows him to avoid paying back any of his £80,000 pension. And then Roger Edwardson of “Roger Edwardson Education and Children’s Services Ltd” who has left his contract with I-O-W council for Southampton City council. Buy the Eye or see this post on the article:
http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/02/09/bureau-recommends-the-consultancy-tax-avoidance-wheeze/
Winterbottom is our Nick Johnson it seems. Can’t see Winterbottom is value for money in TH even at ‘just’ 3 days a month when his advice on development here is proposing a waste site in Poplar near the Aberfeldy Estate (and others); Mother Levy’s Home on Underwood Road, Whitechapel was totally demolished and the LDF is just a treasure map of nominated sites for development for pally developers.
Winterbottom appears to have done nothing but harm in D&R in his short tenure – and before he puts in his £1,000 a day bill, should be axed. And while he toddles off with LDP Projects back to leafy Buckinghamshire, can we also be relieved of the full-time ‘consultants’ like Heather Bonfield of Heather Bonfield Consultancy Ltd who is on £800 a day, 5 days a week for years now (someone do the maths) as our interim Head of Cultural Services:
http://www.creditgate.com/companysearch/heather+bonfield+consultancy+limited.aspx
Would like to hope she isn’t on a pension/pay-out from some other LA and hence another reason for the limited company?
If Ger Francis, Saiful Ahmed and Mazerul Alam (all also CLC) on that list, advised Lutfur Rahman to hire out more of our public parks , i.e. Milwall (as Heather Bonfield did for Viccy Park) and/or were responsible for the Trinity Gardens debacle then they should push through and all.
And Mark Seddon and Mohammed Jubair as media and communications advisors, they need some, er…advice (on their way out.) This week’s EEL has a photo of a good council employee in post, except that he had his job ‘deleted’ quite some time ago. That’s Chris Lloyd, for over 30 years TH’s Local History Librarian, and he had his job ‘deleted’ back in 2010…under boss Heather Bonfield.
Ted – you need to dig deeper.
Other consultants in other depts are allegedly on between £100 – £500 a day and some have been there full time (mostly) and are now part-time (due to cut backs) two-three days a week. A lot of it is crony-ism, but there are some consultants who are taking the lead on of this new Council idea called “partnerships” – that’s privatisation to you and us. A lot of them work for companies, owned by themselves or their immediate partners/colleagues.
@TheTruthHurts
“Partnerships” seems like an old council idea: Heather Bonfield and Stephen Halsey were doing this back on 9/3/2010:
Rest of the presentation minutes for their 2009/10 Culture and Leisure Yearbook: http://moderngov.towerhamlets.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=23859
So we know that Heather Bonfield of Heather Bonfield Consultancy Ltd was doing this for LBTH then and now on £800-a-day, but who are the others on £100 – £500 a day pushing “partnerships” and working for companies owned by themselves/significant others? We need you to tell us which LBTH depts and even some names; Ted may not have the time to dig deeper and if any of us search TH council names via Creditgate etc, we may get results (i.e. Stephen Halseys a plenty) but these may be meaningful or meaningless:
https://secure.creditgate.com/search/search.aspx?directorsurname=halsey&directorfirstname=stephen&AdditionalSearch=&IsDirectorSearch=1
The Odious Rahman refusing to answer questions? Perhaps he has come across Mark Twain’s comment about fools and keeping your mouth shut, and has decided to follow it …
Reblogged this on selmapiro.
[…] dogged analysis about all the people working as advisers for elected mayor Lutfur Rahman on his Trial By Jeory blog. Scroll down and you will see he wishes Camden man Axel Landin all the best for his £8.39 per […]
Ted, sorry this is off topic, but can you accept this here as comments on your ‘Spitalfields by-election speculation’ post are closed?….
There are two ‘planning’ issues in Spitalfields that any election candidate should declare their position on, and in the case of the demolitions of the Fruit and Wool Exchange, the Gun Pub and Barclays Bank – MUST STOP.
The first, the term ‘planning’ doesn’t really apply to, as there has been no consultation with residents – and that is the paving over of the brick setts on Brick Lane. The justification is that the setts are difficult to maintain; are a recent paving treatment and anyway, TFL are paying for this. And EEL employ John Rennie to tell us all that Olde Bricke Lane was – and ‘not a lot of people know this’ – an authentic 70’s tarmac paradise. It’s Brick Lane for crissake and it was originally cobblestones anyway – although of course if that was a Councillor I saw going up there in a black tank of a 4WD Audi, then maybe it is cars that have the upper hand here. It’s certainly not residents as they were not consulted; it is generally NOT WANTED, especially when no other treatment of the brick setts is even being considered.
The second issue, which is a proper planning one in that residents are being consulted, is Exemplar and the Corporation of London’s application for the redevelopment, sorry “regeneration” (I think they used that when demolishing the rear half of Spitalfields Mkt), of the old buildings, and of Dorset Street, and Whites Row Car Park – opposite Christ Church, Spitalfields. Demolition of the Corporation’s Whites Row Car Park may be justifiable, but not the 1928 London Fruit and Wool Exchange (just a facade left on Brushfield St), and the Bank, and the Gun Pub, and Dorset St built on. Replacing all this will be a hideous redbrick megablock. No Portland Stone as the Barclays Bank and the Fruit and Wool Exchange dressed the front of their buildings, to match the beautiful Christ Church opposite. Hundreds of residents are opposing this – regardless of Exemplar’s chats with TH Planning and the Mayor (see: http://www.lfwe.com) and an online petition has been put up by the Spitalfields Community Group:
http://www.change.org/petitions/petition-against-exemplars-plans-for-the-fruit-and-wool-exchange-eradication-of-historic-dorset-street-demolition-of-the-gun-pub-and-barclays-bank
The Spitalfields by-election may be the catalyst in stopping these demolitions. Someone called Tarik Ahmed is listed as a Committee Member of the Steering Group for Spitalfields Community Group. Could that be Tarik Ahmed Khan, whom you have mentioned as a possible candidate for Labour? If so, if he stands on the anti-Exemplar Spitalfields demolitions/development ticket then he will be a shoe-in. At last, someone willing to stand up for Spitalfields and oppose the Corporation and its relentless bulldozing, sorry “regeneration” of heritage in our Borough. It should have stopped with the rear half of Spitalfields Market…de-listed so that Mayor Bear could demolish. Oh, perhaps Exemplar mean they have chatted with Michael Bear and not with Lutfur Rahman?
(NB This is not a ra-ra for Labour – if any other candidate publicly declares their position and fights against this development, then so much the better for Spitalfields and for TH.)
Thank you Ted for allowing this comment under this post.
I should add that there are only days left to sign the petition. The consultation on Exemplar’s planning application ends on March 1st.
Nomouse
Just to update on the Brick Lane issue, refer http://www.grenvillemills.blogspot.com I’ve since had a response from East End News which I’ll add to the blog later. Basically the author says he’ll make a correction on a separate web site! More later
Thanks Grenville – didn’t realise you had blogged on Brick Lane being tarmac’ed. The photo you found was one obviously avoided by the author of the EEL piece (didn’t know EEN had also done something?) who deliberately chose the 1970’s, as opposed the 1870’s, to illustrate his piece. Now he will write a retraction(?) on a separate web site? And the added cost of more writing from this (paid) author will be borne by…?
Young Axel’s links as a paid advisor to Rahman explain a few things. His defences of Rahman and the East London Mosque against questions and concerns can be pretty OTT it seems, down to implying (by innuendo about Terry Fitzpatrick i think it was) that a Labour mate of mine in Camden was racist for raising ELM management’s links to IFE and Jamaat. Learnt the grievance playbook used by his superiors well – he’ll be a right good little member of the Hard Left thought police in future.
Unfortunately not; see my update to the blog. We just need our blogs to be read as widely as their weekly publicity pamphlet as that’s all it is.
Read your update on your blog – thank you Grenville for publicising this tarmac’ing of Brick Lane, and your continuing efforts to be heard as one of many objecting residents. Your response from the author of the EEL article is interesting.
He says he has ‘no control over what appears in EEL’ – of course he doesn’t as he is not the Editor. He was though commissioned to write this article and given a brief. He would have been paid, too. He should be honest about his paid work for TH council – Mr Rennie is in their pay, and that pay comes from our pockets.
While Mr Rennie may not be another TH consultant on £800 or £1,000 a day, he has been paid for his weekly articles in EEL for many years. Surely some local history enthusiasts could be given the opportunity to have this heritage page in EEL and write on a rotating basis – and probably for free? This then would also remove the taint of the paid author commissioned to write specific pieces for his employers. If residents do not want Brick Lane tarmac’ed, we certainly don’t want John Rennie, paid by us, writing council retrospin on it.
Next, it will be why the Fruit and Wool Exchange, Gun Pub and Barclays Bank in Spitalfields are not very old buildings and therefore should not be saved from demolition. Please sign the petition against this, as I feel the cold, dead hand of EEL’s heritage consultant ready to write off this resident campaign:
http://www.change.org/petitions/petition-against-exemplars-plans-for-the-fruit-and-wool-exchange-eradication-of-historic-dorset-street-demolition-of-the-gun-pub-and-barclays-bank
Nomouse
What I say below are in the most part equally pertinent to the proposed development at Fruit and Wool Exchange, Gun Pub and Barclays Bank and the same solutions apply.
The issues we face in Brick Lane are threefold; (1) an autocratic decision by Lutfur Rahman to tarmac Brick Lane in the face of local opposition, (2) a partisan publication promoting the political agenda of Tower Hamlets’ executive management, whilst excluding the voice of those opposing the Council’s actions, and (3) – linked to (2) – the lack of any cohesive representation to spearhead and publicise public objection.
Let’s firstly address the total lack of editorial integrity shown by the Editor of East End Life, Ms Loraine Clay in gazetting the pro tarmac articles by both Rahman and Rennie in the same issue, while omitting any reference to significant local objection. This, coupled with her refusal to respond to my own request for an explanation illustrates the paper’s shabby editorial oversight. We should not be deceived into believing this pretence for a newspaper is ‘by the people, for the people’; it is not. It is in reality simply a political vehicle for Tower Hamlets Council which as we know is itself a conduit used by the Mayor, Lutfur Rahman to promote his political aspirations and agenda. Until there are major changes to the editorial staff we can pretty much assume East End Life won’t effectively represent the views of those objecting. To the contrary, the paper can be expected to give bad press to any efforts made in challenging the Council’s tarmac decision. So we can assume East End Life will not be covering our endeavours in any supportive way. Better the devil you know as they say.
I don’t underestimate the great work everyone has done so far in objecting through blog comments, but we need to be a great deal more proactive, on and off the Internet. For example, I recommend we make better use of social networking to promote our cause as we’ve established that we don’t have the luxury of a tax payer funded sycophantic publication to support our case. Consistent use of Twitter, Facebook and a raft of complimentary social networking tools to publicise our case and gain support will potentially be more effective than the occasional item in the local press anyway – it simply needs organising in a disciplined way.
That being said, what other avenues are available to us to represent our cause? Well, we should formally approach the Councillors for the Ward of Spitalfields and Banglatown. Regrettably with one in jail, that only leaves two, namely Councillor Helal Uddin Abbas (Labour) http://bit.ly/zVNXBy and Councillor Fozol Miah (Respect) http://bit.ly/zwxSKo. I recommend we write an open letter to both expressing our concern and outlining our argument for reinstating original cobbles in Brick Lane.
Next we should arrange for a Petition to be signed by residents and businesses in Brick Lane and this petition formally handed to both Councillors, ideally with photographs of the event to publicise the presentation through our social networking channels.
Last but certainly not least important will be a public show of strength, and this means an orderly demonstration in Brick Lane with the consent of residents. Again photographed and networked. We can make this work without, or in spite of, the press.
To summarise I’m recommending:
(1) Build an effective Social Network presence branded as, e.g., #BrickLane
(2) Write to Spitalfields and Banglatown Councillors
(3) Organise and present a Petition
(4) Make a public show of strength to support our case
No progress will be made unless we push ahead with these or similar actions. My time is available to help. If others are prepared to step up to the line and get involved, please do so and let’s set the project up in a constructive way.
On a final note, regarding John Rennie, we oughtn’t to hold our breath for him to honour his promise. The last entry he made to his own web site, which few, if any read – eastlondonhistory – was on 7 December 2011!
Grenville – Rushanara Ali MP has agreed to a meeting on these Spitalfields matters. It is on Thursday at Toynbee Hall, 6.30 – 7.30pm:
http://www.spitalfieldscommunity.org/event/rushanara-ali-tower-hamlets-mp/
Might be a start to hear what she will/can do?
Excellent, I’ll be there, thks
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