Here are the questions that councillors will be posing to Mayor Lutfur Rahman at the full meeting of Tower Hamlets council tonight (most of them will have to rely on written responses because there is only 30 minutes available for the slot – and Lutfur never answers them verbally anyway…). The meeting starts at 7.30pm–after councillors meet behind closed doors to work out their next moves on the vacant chief executive position.
MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS
27 questions have been received from Members of the Council as follows:-
8.1 Question from Councillor Motin Uz-Zaman
Does the Mayor agree with me that the Baishaki Mela should be a celebration of all that is good about Tower Hamlets and that representatives of the Mela should at all times be respectful and courteous to all involved including representatives of the media?
8.2 Question from Councillor Tim Archer
Will the Mayor inform the council as to who the current occupiers of the old Poplar Town Hall, 117 Poplar High Street, are?
8.3 Question from Councillor John Pierce
What plans does the Mayor have to support active and representative resident groups to take over the running of unused buildings in Tower Hamlets such as the Dorset Library in Weavers Ward?
8.4 Question from Councillor Fozol Miah
Is the Mayor aware of the threat posed to the future of the Women’s library in Aldgate and would he agree with me that this is an invaluable resource and asset to the people of Tower Hamlets and beyond who believe in the equality of women and their struggle for their basic human rights and would he agree to contact the library management and seek to work with them to do everything possible to secure its future?
8.5 Question from Councillor Anwar Khan
Recent statistics have shown that there are now almost 15 people chasing every job in Tower Hamlets. These figures are significantly worse than most other East London boroughs. When will the Mayor produce a coherent plan to tackle joblessness?
8.6 Question from Councillor Peter Golds
Will the Mayor inform the council in light of the third censure for political imbalance by Ofcom as to his and his staffs’ relationship with Channel S?
8.7 Question from Councillor Sirajul Islam
What is the Mayor doing to support the regeneration of Town centres in the borough?
8.8 Question from Councillor Harun Miah
Would the Mayor agree with me that there are many in Tower Hamlets and beyond who believe there has been little benefit from the Olympics in terms of sustainable employment or long-term regeneration, that there will be huge inconvenience and loss of security, that the Olympics is now completely dominated by multinational corporate interests and that such people should have the right to make their voices heard during the Olympics and would he also therefore agree to instruct officers to give permission for a peaceful demonstration to take place on the first Saturday of the Olympics, providing the police are also happy to allow it, processing from Mile End to end in Victoria Park?
8.9 Question from Councillor Khales Uddin Ahmed
Can the Mayor confirm the total cost of the 400 Olympic tickets purchased by the Council and clarify where this funding came from?
8.10 Question from Councillor David Snowdon
Will the Mayor explain why despite ongoing public concern he continues to use the Borough’s parks as a financial resource?
8.11 Question from Councillor Rachael Saunders
In his position as the Chair of the shadow Health and Wellbeing Board what is the Mayor doing to tackle increased cancer waiting times for the people of Tower Hamlets?
8.12 Question from Councillor Kabir Ahmed
Members from the Labour group have developed a reputation for bringing the Council into disrepute. Following his suspension, the last Leader of the Council refused to apologise for his conduct towards a Council staff; and most recently another allegedly threatens a fellow female member in the Council Chamber. Does the Mayor agree with me that the Leader of the Labour group has failed to take any action against his Members and has therefore lost control of his group?
8.13 Question from Councillor Marc Francis
What plans he has to extend the mandatory licensing scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation to smaller HMOs or introduce select licensing for all private rented sector properties?
8.14 Question from Councillor Zara Davis
During the Olympic period, there are a number of activities taking place in the borough, including the Live Site in Victoria Park and the German National Pavilion at the Museum of London Docklands. These activities will inevitably cause additional disruption to local residents, in particular noise disturbance. What is the Mayor doing to ensure that its Noise Nuisance team has sufficient capacity to meet the additional demands that residents are likely to be placing on this service during the Games?
8.15 Question from Councillor Shiria Khatun
What impact does the Mayor expect the introduction of charging for bulk rubbish collection to have on levels of street cleanliness?
8.16 Question from Councillor Stephanie Eaton
What progress is being made on having a workforce that reflects the community?
8.17 Question from Councillor Carlo Gibbs
Does the Mayor agree with me that the Government’s Welfare Reforms scheduled over the coming year are the single most significant risk faced by the council? If so, can he outline exactly how much the council has set aside across all departments in order to meet the potential cost of these changes?
8.18 Question from Councillor Gloria Thienel
Will the Mayor account as to how he justifies an Olympics’ All Areas road pass when the Meals on Wheels Service can’t get to Wapping & other vulnerable people in our borough who will be suffering whilst the Mayor is driven around in his tax payer funded car?
8.19 Question from Councillor Mohammed Mukit
What measures is the Mayor taking to reduce anti-social behaviour, public urination and late night nuisance noise in the Brick Lane and Shoreditch area of Tower Hamlets?
8.20 Question from Councillor Maium Miah
At a time when families are feeling the pinch due to the failing economic policies of this government; what is the Mayor doing to recover the £850,000 loan from public funds to bankroll the Rich Mix Centre?
8.21 Question from Councillor Joshua Peck
How many visits to one stop shops in the last year were for visitors’ scratch cards?
8.22 Question from Councillor Dr Emma Jones
What percentage of pupils in Tower Hamlets schools sit science A-Levels?
8.23 Question from Councillor Amy Whitelock
Given the Mayor’s recent support for the Time to Change pledge on mental health run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, what steps is the council taking in relation to both awareness raising and service provision to reflect the commitment to this pledge?
8.24 Question from Councillor Gulam Robbani
What measures has the Mayor taken to ensure that our parks are not permanently damaged as a result of events that are taking place?
8.25 Question from Councillor Craig Aston
Will the Mayor give the cost incurred in developing the wildflower meadow in Victoria Park and the timescale for it being revealed to the public?
8.26 Question from Councillor Lutfa Begum
We are delighted with a once in lifetime opportunity to host the Olympic Games. Will the Mayor reassure residents that Tower Hamlets will not become gridlocked and grotty during the Games?
8.27 Question from Councillor Aminur Khan
Crime and community safety is a key concern for many residents; what is the Mayor doing to reassure local people that Tower Hamlets remains a safe and cohesive borough?
Trial by Jeory 
Why is it that Peter and his loony Tory councillors are always involved in nasty smears and attacks on the Mayor? Rarely do you get to see Peter actually fighting for his constituents or trying to get them a better deal. Only in Tower Hamlets is this kind of nastiness allowed. It will be surprising if Peter is re-elected at the next election, I think it would be very difficult for him to show any positive work.
This resident Circus ought to be on the Olympic entertainment guide: a sort of modern East End novelty side show. It would probably attract more curiosity interest than Joseph Merrick ever did.
It seriously beggars belief that they would schedule a meeting to (yet again) ‘debate’ proposals to consider the appointment of a Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) after the melee of 16th May, immediately prior to the full public council meeting. The result was that the full public council meeting had to be delayed for 2 hours, and then truncated to just an hour.That the country’s most dysfunctional Council still remains rudderless will come as no surprise and undoubtedly adds to its novelty side show appeal.
As an aside, I attended a London Thames Gateway Development Corporation meeting this evening that voted in favour of a major 741 mixed residential development in Bromley-by-bow. There was only one LTGDC board member absent – ironically Tower Hamlet’s own Cllr Kosru Uddin, of 16 May fame, and whose bail incidently has been lifted and no charges made following his alleged threats to kill another Cllr.
Roll-up roll-up, for the next Big Top event and stand a chance of seeing the mute Joseph Grimaldi take centre stage.
I would be engrossed to find out how many times Tory disagreed with their political adversary Labour? Similarly how many times Labour voted against Tory bid? I can assure you people of Tower Hamlets are very closely monitoring the Tory Labour coalition? If you go to Town hall you can sometime feel like Peter Gold is the leader and Joshua Peck is the deputy leader of the Coalition. That is upsetting both Tory and Labour supporters; they want to find out what is deal between two leaders? May be a deal for paid positions or something else, time will tell?