The next monthly cat fight that is the full meeting of Tower Hamlets council takes place a week tomorrow. While the agenda isn’t yet available, the most significant part of the proceedings are likely to happen after the press and public have been excluded when our fine elected representatives discuss the most vexed question of who to appoint as Head of Paid Service.
I understand that the Local Government Association have a “heavy hitter” in mind to recommend should councillors find the problem to difficult to solve themselves. This heavy hitter would then be able to embark on the not unimportant quest to find a new finance director in these uncertain times. And also a new children’s and adult services director, of course, after the “first class” Isobel Cattermole cashes in her rather large retirement package in a couple of months’ time.
We’ll learn what we mere taxpaying mortals are allowed to witness in the open part of the meeting in the next few days, but in the meantime, to give you a flavour, I thought you’d like to see the questions and motions that the Conservative group has submitted.
While it is good to see that rare event in Tower Hamlets of a Tory on attack on Labour, I particularly like their two motions on housing associations. One calls for these “social landlords” to be subjected to the Freedom of Information Act, while the other wants an end to tenancies granted to people earning more than £80,000 a year. Now, whoever could they mean?
Tower Hamlets Conservative Group
Questions and Motions submitted to
Council Meeting; 23 January 2013
Questions
Cllr Peter Golds
In 2011 the Parliament approved the “Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity”. Tower Hamlets Council has chosen to ignore this code, in particular by continuing to publish East End Life at cost to the taxpayer.
The Government has announced that to ensure compliance of the Code of Recommended Practice legislation to is to be introduced which will empower the Secretary of State to make a direction requiring compliance with some or all of the Publicity Code’s recommendations.
Will the Mayor announce when he proposes to cease publication of East End Life, which contravenes the Code?
Cllr Zara Davis
What action has been taken by the Council to prevent Tunnel Runs occurring in the Westferry Circus underground roundabout, since the meeting between the Council and Police on 5th December?
Cllr Tim Archer
Will the Mayor outline what meetings he has had with London City Airport and who he has nominated to serve on the Consultative Committee to alleviate the problems faced by Isle of Dogs residents as a result of noise pollution from flights from the increased flights from London City Airport?
Cllr Dr Emma Jones
What is the Mayor doing to improve the lighting and remove the overgrown shrubbery in Wapping Woods?
Cllr David Snowdon
What steps is the Mayor taking to fix the potholes on the roads of the Isle of Dogs?
Cllr Craig Aston
In view of the interest by the Mayor in the career of George Lansbury, is the Mayor aware that when George Lansbury was inaugurated as Mayor of Poplar in both 1919 and 1937 the ceremony took place at Poplar Town Hall, Poplar High Street, which was also the venue for the meeting in which Poplar Council resolved not to levy the LCC and Metropolitan Police precepts, which resulted in the Local Authorities (Equalization) Act of 1921.
Therefore, would the Mayor explain to the public why he authorised the sale of this historic building at a low price to purchasers with close connections to him and his administration?
Cllr Gloria Thienel
What advice did the Mayor receive in regards to the ownership of the Henry Moore sculpture ‘The Draped Seated Woman’ prior to his aborted attempt to sell it?
Motions January 2013
Motion On Tower Hamlets Cultural Heritage
Proposed By: Cllr Peter Golds
Seconded By: Cllr Tim Archer
This Council Notes:
- That in 1962 Henry Moore sold to the former London County Council his bronze work of art, The Draped Seated Woman, which was presented to the people of Stepney and located in the Stifford Estate and became popularly known to residents as ‘Old Flo.’
- That the sculpture passed to the former Greater London Council on April 1st 1965 and upon the abolition of the Greater London Council in 1986, it passed to the London Residuary Body.
- That following the winding up of the London Residuary Body, assets were distributed for care amongst the 32 London Boroughs and the Drape Seated Woman was passed into the care of the London Borough of Bromley.
- That in 1997 ‘Old Flo’ was moved by Tower Hamlets Council to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
- That in 2010 Councillor Tim Archer undertook a survey amongst residents as to the future of the sculpture with the alternatives of selling the sculpture or bringing it back to Tower Hamlets. As a result of this survey, a Council Meeting in 2010 the Council unanimously agreed a motion proposed by Cllr Archer to return the sculpture to Tower Hamlets and display it for the benefit of all local residents.
- That Mayor Rahman attempted to sell the statue, without consulting the people of this Borough or fully establishing the ownership, thereby placing the world renowned Auction House, Christies, in a potential legal minefield.
- That the sculpture, following the winding up of the London Residuary Body, is in the care of the London Borough of Bromley
- That the London Borough of Bromley wish the sculpture be returned to London and located in the Docklands Museum so it is available for all Londoners to experience.
This Council Further Notes:
- The poor advice the Mayor and Cabinet received in their decision to sell the sculpture.
This Council Resolves:
- To confirm to Christies that the sculpture is not available for sale due it not legally being owned by Tower Hamlets Council.
- To undertake an Independent investigation as to the legal and ownership advice provided to the administration. That this investigation should examine all internal and external advice submitted to the administration and following this investigation, provide the Council with proposals to ensure that such a situation does not arise again.
Motion on Benefit Cap
Proposed by: Cllr Tim Archer
Seconded by: Cllr David Snowdon
This Council Notes:
1 in every 3 pounds raised in taxes by the Government is spent on Welfare
That more money is spent on Welfare than the Defence, Education and Health budgets put together.
That the Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary told the London School of Economics in 2012;
“We are the Labour Party. The party that said idleness is an evil. The Party of workers, not shirkers”
Mr Byrne also told the Labour Party Conference in 2011;
“Many people on the doorstep at the last election felt that too often we were for shirkers, not workers”
The last Labour Government left a deficit of £170 billion and over a trillion pounds worth of national debt, and Liam Byrne MP, left a note at the Treasury for his successor which stated;
“Dear Chief Secretary,
I am afraid to tell you, there is no money left.”
Over the past 5 years those living on out of work benefits have seen their income increase by 20% while those in work have seen their income increase by just 12%.
This Council Believes:
That the Coalition Government were right to cap benefit rises at 1% for the next 3 years in line with public sector workers pay.
That the Coalition Government are right to get our public finances and deficit under control following the financial mess the last Labour Government left.
This council supports Liam Byrne’s speeches of 2011 and 2012 regarding welfare, as quoted above.
This Council Resolves:
To support the Government in their steps to help people get back to work.
To support the Government’s 1% up-rating of benefits for the next 3 years.
Motion On History Teaching
Proposed By Cllr Zara Davis
Seconded By Cllr David Snowdon
This council notes:
Only 11.7% of Tower Hamlets school children pass GCSE History at grades A*-C. This is the fifth lowest number in England, ahead of only Knowsley, Newham, Kingston-Upon-Hull and Manchester.
Over three times more school children achieve A*-C GCSE History in the top performing council in the country, Hammersmith and Fulham.
Tower Hamlets has the ninth lowest number of children passing A-Level History in England.
This council believes:
That the study of history allows our school children to develop high level analytical skills, and helps them to more fully appreciate the world around them. This in turn promotes civic and community engagement.
That in order to increase the number of Tower Hamlets school children achieving high grades in History, we need to increase the provision of History teaching in our schools.
This council resolves:
To instruct officers to write to all Head Teachers of schools within the Borough to make them aware of the Council’s support for a higher provision of History teaching.
To instruct officers to contact schools to investigate barriers to a higher level of provision of history teaching and report back to full council within six months.
To ask the Mayor to champion the cause of history teaching in Tower Hamlets and investigate what he can do to promote this objective
Motion: Social Landlords
Proposed By Cllr Dr Emma Jones
Seconded By Cllr Peter Golds
This Council Notes:
- That the Minister for Housing and Local Government has praised social landlords such as Viridian and Home Group for their plans to publish expenditure over £500.
- That the Minister calls on social landlords to follow Viridian and Home Group’s example and become more transparent.
- That the Government is committed to a consultation with social landlords on whether to expand the scope of the Freedom of Information Act to apply to them.
This Council Believes:
- That the example shown by Viridian and Home Group is a step in the right direction and that all social landlords should consider following their lead.
- That the government should extend the Freedom of Information Act to apply to social landlords and all Housing Associations; so that they will publish spending over £500.
This Council Resolves:
- To support the government in its consultation.
- To encourage and support Housing Associations/Social landlords in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to publish all spending over £500.
High Earners and Council Housing
Proposed by: Cllr Gloria Thienel
Seconded by: Cllr Tim Archer
This Council Notes:
- There are some 6,000 Council houses across the UK that have tenants earning more than £100,000 a year living in them.
- That it has been reported that there are 15,000 tenants in social housing earning more than £80,000 a year.
- That there are a number of such tenants resident in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. These people including key supporters of the Mayor and his administration.
- That the Minister for Housing and Local Government has brought forward plans that would give social landlords new powers to increase rents for high-income tenants.
This Council Believes:
- That these new powers granted to social landlords by the Department for Communities and Local Government will help solve this problem and return much needed social housing to those in need.
This Council Resolves:
- To support the Department for Communities and Local Government in putting in place these new powers.
- To encourage all Social Landlords in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets not to subsidise rents for those high earners earning over £80,000
Trial by Jeory 
Ted, is it the case that the Poplar Town Hall building was sold at a low price to purchasers with close connections to him [Mayor]and his administration? Could this be the dodgy deal that brings him down?
More notable for the Conservatives vile defense of the benefit cap. They are happy to see the further immiseration of many thousands of TH residents whom they obviously believe to be less deserving of food and shelter than themselves.
Oh yeah, because if you receive a mere £500 a week in benefits, it’s a stark choice between eating and a roof over your head.
Go back to the Daily Mail where you belong. Or show a case of somebody in Tower Hamlets receiving £500 a week in benefits. I can tell you it’s far from the truth.
Just how ignorant can you be? First, its per household. Second, nobody ‘gets’ £500 per week. Where people receive large benefit paynents, most of it goes to landlords. Do you know what private rents are like in Tower Hamlets? How much do you spend per week on food? Ask Tower Hsmlets teachers about how cuts are already hurting children.
You can even read about it in the Daily Mail.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234676/500-week-household-benefits-cap-immoral-demonises-jobless-claims-minister.html
Labour has no plans to repeal most Tory cuts of course so it has very little to recommend it as an alternative.
Some points:
* The Tories assert that Old Flo is owned by Bromley, but that’s obviously untrue – Bromley did nothing to assert ownership before 2012. It’s absolutely clear that ownership would have been transferred from the GLC to Tower Hamlets as part of the Stifford Estate.
* Why are the Tories putting motions on details of the school curriculum when the Thatcher government removed responsibility for the curriculum from local authorities?
* The ‘High Earners and Council Housing’ motion slyly perpetuates the Tory myth that council house rents are subsidised; they aren’t.
It’s absolutely clear that Old Flo, though sited on the Stifford Estate, was not part of the estate, and that when the land and assets of the estate transferred to Tower Hamlets, Old Flo wasn’t part of it.
Why then did no-one (and in particular, Bromley Council) object when Tower Hamlets purported to loan Old Flo to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1997? Even if it wasn’t actually part of the estate, Tower Hamlets must have established ownership by adverse possession.
It doesn’t state anywhere above that it’s owned by Bromley. It says it is “in the care” of Bromley. The point is that it’s not LBTH’s to sell at its sole discretion.
As to council tax rents not subsidised – well not directly, no. But there is public (i.e. taxpayers’) capital tied up in the ownership of council housing, which is then rented out to council tenants at a fraction of open market rents. So taking into account the opportunity cost of capital, it is very much a subsidy.
Landlords are given a massive subsidy by the taxpayer through housing benefit btw (not endorsing the benefit cap here-the ethical solution would be to limit what people can charge for rent).
The issue of local authority papers is often a misguided one. Local authorities are required to publish notices regarding planning applications etc. Purchasing these from a local paper that has a monopoly is in most cases quite expensive. So through the sale of advertising and the savings made on these statutory notices local authorities in almost all cases save money by publishing their own paper. In this case the Tories are demonstrating that they are far more interested in public money going into the pockets of private newspapers than achieving value for money for the local taxpayer.
That’s just nonsense-on-stilts isn’t it? In that case, LBTH can just publish a simple fact sheet with the planning applications on them. There’s no reason for pictures of the mayor, restaurant reviews or a TV guide etc. is there? I presume you are an LBTH shill?
I suspect it is Axel
No, Randal Smith is a real person and a TH Labour Party activist.
@fromtwitter: I hear that Ken Livingstone was in minority of one on NEC Org Sub today when he called for Lutfur Rahman to be let back into Labour- is this true Ted?