This, by Lib Dem Elaine Bagshaw, is the next in the series of guest posts by candidates for the Tower Hamlets mayoral elections on June 11. John Biggs and Rabina Khan have also promised articles although they have yet to materialise.
I’m running for Mayor because we need to build a better Tower Hamlets that works for everyone.
Forty-nine per cent of our children live in poverty. We live in the shadows of the City yet have second highest unemployment rate in London.
Why is it that if you are born in Tower Hamlets you are expected to live five fewer years than someone born in the City of London?
I’ve been proud to call this borough my home five years now, and I want to deliver for people in this borough so that everyone gets the same opportunities I had. I was the first person in my family to go to University, and through a shared ownership scheme in the borough I’ve had the chance to own my own home. I currently live in Poplar, near Westferry station. I ran for the Parliamentary seat of Poplar & Limehouse in the General Election, and the Blackwall & Cubitt Town by-election in 2014.
The last five years have been difficult for the borough. Yes, there have been some improvements such as the results at our local schools, the introduction of the London Living Wage payment for staff, and the cleanness of certain areas, but they don’t go far enough, and they’ve divided our community. We’ve collectively lost faith in the office of the Mayor, the Council and its arms-length organisations such as Tower Hamlets Homes at exactly the time when they are needed most.
The previous administrations of both Labour and Tower Hamlets First have left us this legacy, and it is simply unacceptable. This can’t be allowed to continue. It is time for a change with local people leading the way. The borough needs new leadership and new ideas so that we can move on from the feuds of the past and together build a united community that delivers local solutions.
If elected mayor I will:
- Make sure that there are affordable homes for working families
- Ensure that a minimum of 50 per cent of a social housing development has to remain as social housing once it has been redeveloped
- Protect our social housing provision by making sure that like-for-like replacements of the lost social housing are built in the borough
- Housing developments are built alongside infrastructure such as schools; doctors surgeries and transport links so that they are additions to our community
- Identify all empty homes in the borough and make them fit for use as social housing
- Ensure no social housing tenant in the borough is living in a home that is unsuitable for human habitation
- Investigate the treatment of leaseholders, putting an end to charging for unnecessary work and systemic overcharging of residents
- Deliver new local facilities such as more GPs and better local transportation needed to support our community.
- Save £1.5m by scrapping the council newspaper and use this money to create apprenticeships for young people in Tower Hamlets that pay the London Living Wage
- Have zero tolerance on corruption
I’ve spent just over six years working as a regulator in the borough on Canary Wharf. As a regulator I have held banks to account, and supported those who fell victim to the scandals of payday lenders. I’ve also worked as a youth worker helping get young people back into education and into work.
I know what needs to be done and how hard it can be. But I also know that I can deliver for our community.
A vote for Elaine Bagshaw is a vote for a better Tower Hamlets.
Trial by Jeory 