Tower Hamlets London Borough Council | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
Houses | Unicameral |
History | |
Founded | 1 April 1965 |
Preceded by | Bethnal Green Borough Council Poplar Borough Council Stepney Borough Council |
New session started | 3 May 2018 (Municipal year 2018/19) |
Leadership | |
Lutfur Rahman,Aspire since 5 May 2022 | |
Victoria Obaze since May 2019 | |
Chief executive | Will Tuckley since 27 August 2015 |
Structure | |
Seats | 45 councillors |
Council political groups | Executive (24)
Opposition (21)
|
Length of term | Executive mayor elected every four years Whole council elected every four years |
Elections | |
Council voting system | Plurality-at-large |
Mayor voting system | Supplementary vote |
Council last election | 5 May 2022 |
Council next election | 2026 |
Meeting place | |
Tower Hamlets Town Hall 160 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1BJ | |
Website | |
www | |
Constitution | |
Council constitution |
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, currently Lutfur Rahman.
Following the May 2014 election, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council was composed of 22 Labour Party members, 19 Tower Hamlets First members and 5 Conservative Party members. [1] Following the removal of Lutfur Rahman as mayor and Alibor Choudhury as councillor, Tower Hamlets First was removed from the Electoral Commission register of political parties, with Labour's Sabina Akhtar replacing Choudhury as councillor for Stepney Green and John Biggs replacing Rahman as Mayor, following the by-elections in June 2015. [2] [3] Lutfur Rahman was again elected as Mayor in the 2022 London Borough elections, beating incumbent Labour Mayor John Biggs. [4]
The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced three local authorities: Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough Council, Poplar Metropolitan Borough Council and Stepney Metropolitan Borough Council.
There have previously been a number of local authorities responsible for the Tower Hamlets area. The current local authority was first elected in 1964, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets on 1 April 1965. Tower Hamlets London Borough Council replaced Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough Council, Poplar Metropolitan Borough Council and Stepney Metropolitan Borough Council. All three had been created in 1900, in Bethnal Green the borough council replaced the parish vestry and in Poplar the council replaced the board of works; both authorities had been incorporated by the Metropolis Management Act 1855. Stepney had a more convoluted history with the metropolitan borough council established in 1900 replacing the Limehouse District Board of Works, the Whitechapel District Board of Works and the parish vestries of Mile End Old Town and St George in the East. [5]
It was envisaged that through the London Government Act 1963 Tower Hamlets as a London local authority would share power with the Greater London Council. The split of powers and functions meant that the Greater London Council was responsible for "wide area" services such as fire, ambulance, flood prevention, and refuse disposal; with the local authorities responsible for "personal" services such as social care, libraries, cemeteries and refuse collection. This arrangement lasted until 1986 when Tower Hamlets London Borough Council gained responsibility for some services that had been provided by the Greater London Council, such as waste disposal. Tower Hamlets became an education authority in 1990. Since 2000 the Greater London Authority has taken some responsibility for highways and planning control from the council, but within the English local government system the council remains a "most purpose" authority in terms of the available range of powers and functions. [6]
In September 2008, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council named two tower blocks in Sidney Street Peter House and Painter House, even though Peter the Painter was only involved in a minor capacity in the robbery, was not present at the siege of Sidney Street, and may not have existed at all. A local councillor and the Metropolitan Police Federation protested against this, saying that he should not be honoured. [7]
Following a local referendum on 6 May 2010, a directly elected executive mayor system of local government commenced with the election on 21 October 2010 of Lutfur Rahman as mayor. Rahman was re-elected at the 2014 mayoral election, but the result of this election was cancelled and declared null and void on 23 April 2015 when the Election Court officially reported Rahman to be guilty of corrupt or illegal practices, or both (electoral fraud) under the Representation of the People Act 1983. [8] [9] He was thus removed from his office with immediate effect and was also personally debarred from standing for elected office until 2021. [10] [11] A BBC article in 2018 stated that "Police investigating electoral fraud during the 2014 Tower Hamlets mayoral election have not found sufficient evidence to charge anyone". [12]
The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation, and has the powers and functions of a London borough council. It sets council tax and as a billing authority also collects precepts for Greater London Authority functions and business rates. [13] It sets planning policies which complement Greater London Authority and national policies, and decides on almost all planning applications accordingly. It is a local education authority and is also responsible for council housing, social services, libraries, waste collection and disposal, traffic, and most roads and environmental health. [14]
From 1986 to 1994 the council experimented with decentralisation of services to seven neighbourhood areas. [15]
Previous election results are as follows:
Election | Overall control | Conservative | Labour | Lib Dem | Others | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 [16] | Aspire | 1 | 19 | – | 25 | |
2018 [17] | Labour | 2 | 42 | – | 1 | |
2014 | No overall control | 5 | 22 | – | 18 | |
2010 | Labour | 8 | 41 | 1 | 1 | |
2006 | Labour | 7 | 26 | 6 | 12 | |
2002 | Labour | – | 35 | 16 | – | |
1998 | Labour | – | 41 | 9 | – | |
1994 | Labour | – | 43 | 7 | – | |
1990 | Liberal Democrat | – | 20 | 30 | – | |
1986 | Liberal/SDP Alliance | – | 24 | 26 | – | |
1982 | Labour | – | 31 | 18 | 1 | |
1978 | Labour | – | 43 | 7 | – | |
1974 | Labour | – | 60 | – | – | |
1971 | Labour | – | 60 | – | – | |
1968 | Labour | – | 57 | – | 3 | |
1964 | Labour | – | 55 | – | 5 |
The councillors before and after the 2022 elections were as follows: [18]
Ward | Councillor until May 2022 | Notes | Councillor from May 2022 | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mayor of Tower Hamlets | John Biggs | Mayor of Tower Hamlets | Lutfur Rahman | Aspire | |
Bethnal Green East | Ahbab Hossain | Rebaka Sultana | Labour | ||
Sirajul Islam | Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing | Sirajul Islam | Labour | ||
Eve McQuillan | Mayoral Advisor for Tackling Poverty & Inequality | Ahmodul Kabir | Aspire | ||
Bethnal Green West (formerly St Peter's) | Kevin Brady | Musthak Ahmed | Aspire | ||
Tarik Khan | Majority Group Whip | Abu Talha Chowdhury | Aspire | ||
Gabriela Salva Macallan | Miraj Amin Rahman | Aspire | |||
Blackwall & Cubitt Town | Ehtasham Haque | Ahmodur Rahman Khan | Aspire | ||
Mohammed Pappu | Abdul Malik | Aspire | |||
Candida Roland | Cabinet Member for Resources and the Voluntary Sector | Muhammad Bellal Uddin | Aspire | ||
Bow East | Amina Ali | Cabinet Member for Culture, Arts and Brexit | Amina Ali | Labour | |
Rachel Nancy Blake | Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Air Quality | Rachel Nancy Blake | Labour | ||
Marc Francis | Marc Francis | Labour | |||
Bow West | Asma Begum | Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Equalities | Asma Begum | Labour | |
Val Whitehead | Nathalie Sylvia Bienfait | Green | |||
Bromley North | Zenith Rahman | Muhammad Saif Uddin Khaled | Aspire | ||
Dan Tomlinson | Abdul Mannan | Aspire | |||
Bromley South | Danny Hassell | Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Young People | Bodruf Islam Choudhury | Aspire | |
Helal Uddin | Shahaveer Hussain | Labour | |||
Canary Wharf | Kyrsten Perry | Saled Ahmed | Aspire | ||
Andrew Wood | Leader of the Conservative Group; resigned in 2020. [19] | Mohammad Maium Miah Talukdar | Aspire | ||
Island Gardens | Mufeedah Bustin | Mufeedah Bustin | Labour | ||
Peter Stacey Golds | Peter Stacey Golds | Conservative | |||
Lansbury | Kahar Chowdhury | Abul Monsur Ohid Ahmed | Aspire | ||
Muhammad Harun | Jahed Choudhury | Aspire | |||
Bex White | Iqbal Hossain | Aspire | |||
Limehouse | James Robert Venables King | James Robert Venables King | Labour | ||
Mile End | David Edger | Cabinet Member for Environment | Leelu Ahmed | Labour | |
Asam Islam | Mayoral Advisor for Young People | Mohammad Saifur Rahman Chowdhury | Labour | ||
Puru Miah | Sabina Khan | Labour | |||
Poplar | Sufia Alam | Gulam Kibria Choudhury | Aspire | ||
Shadwell | Ruhul Amin | Cabinet Member for Environment | Ana Miah | Aspire | |
Rabina Khan | Elected as People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets; switched to the Liberal Democrats in August 2018 | Mohammad Harun Miah | Aspire | ||
Spitalfields & Banglatown | Shad Chowdhury | Sulik Ahmed | Aspire | ||
Leema Qureshi | Kabir Hussain | Aspire | |||
St Dunstan's | Dipa Das | Maisha Fahmida Begum | Labour | ||
Ayas Miah | Speaker of the Council | Ayas Miah | Labour | ||
St Katharine's & Wapping | Denise Jones | Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing | Amy Louise Lee | Labour | |
Abdal Ullah | Abdal Ullah | Labour | |||
Stepney Green | Sabina Akhtar | Mayoral Advisor for Community & Voluntary Sector | Sabina Akhtar | Labour | |
Motin Uz-Zaman | Cabinet Member for Work and Economic Growth | Mohammed Abdul Wahid Ali | Aspire | ||
Weavers | Abdul Mukit | Kabir Ahmed | Aspire | ||
John Pierce | Asma Islam | Labour | |||
Whitechapel | Faroque Mahfuz Ahmed | Faroque Mahfuz Ahmed | Labour | ||
Shah Ameen | Shafi Uddin Ahmed | Aspire | |||
Victoria Obaze | Mohammed Kamrul Hussain | Aspire |
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally an alternative name for the historic Tower Division; the area of south-east Middlesex, focused on the area of the modern borough, which owed military service to the Tower of London.
Bethnal Green was a civil parish and a metropolitan borough in the East End of London, England.
John Robert Biggs is a British Labour Co-op politician who was Mayor of Tower Hamlets between 2015 and 2022.
Bow is an area of East London within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is primarily a built-up and mostly residential area and is 4.6 miles (7.4 km) east of Charing Cross.
Bethnal Green and Bow is a constituency in Greater London, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Rushanara Ali of the Labour Party.
Directly elected Mayors or Leaders in England, informally known as Metro Mayors or Leaders, are local government executive leaders who are directly elected by the residents of a local authority area. Examples of metro mayors include the Mayor of London, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, and the Mayor of the West Midlands, with the first County Leaders to be elected in Norfolk and Suffolk in 2024.
Mohammad Lutfur Rahman is a Bangladesh-born British politician and former solicitor serving as the directly elected mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets for the Aspire party since 2022, having previously held the post from 2010 to 2015.
Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, is elected every four years.
The mayor of Tower Hamlets is the directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in east London, England. The first election for this position occurred on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of the borough council. The position is different from the previous largely ceremonial, annually appointed mayors of Tower Hamlets, who became known as the 'Chair of Council' after the first election and are now known as the 'Speaker of Council'. The second election was held on 22 May 2014, the same day as the Tower Hamlets Council election, other United Kingdom local elections, and European Parliament elections, but the election result was declared void by the election court. A by-election was held on 11 June 2015.
Rabina Khan is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, politician, former councillor for Shadwell and Cabinet Member for Housing in Tower Hamlets Council, community worker and author of Ayesha's Rainbow. In 2015, she unsuccessfully contested the Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election. She was the leader of the People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets, but joined the Liberal Democrats on 29 August 2018.
Draped Seated Woman 1957–58 is a bronze sculpture by the British artist Henry Moore, cast in an edition of seven in the 1950s. The sculpture depicts a female figure resting in a seated position, with her legs folded back to her right, her left hand supporting her weight, and her right hand on her right leg. The drapery emphasises the female figure, but the facial features are abstracted and barely picked out.
Elections to Tower Hamlets London Borough Council took place on 22 May 2014, the same day as other United Kingdom local elections, the election of the directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, and the European Parliament elections. Voting in Blackwall & Cubitt Town Ward was postponed due to the death of a candidate. The Mayoral election is particularly notable for the voiding of the result due to widespread corruption.
Tower Hamlets First was a British political party represented in Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, which was launched to contest the 2014 local elections in the Borough. During its existence, it was the second largest party on Tower Hamlets Council and the fifth largest political party out of all the London borough councils.
The 1964 Tower Hamlets Council election took place on 7 May 1964 to elect members of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in London, England. The whole council was up for election and the Labour party won control.
Erlam and others v Rahman and another [2015] EWHC 1215 (QB) is an English election court case challenging the 2014 election of Lutfur Rahman as the Mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. On 23 April 2015, Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey voided Rahman's election under the Representation of the People Act 1983 on the grounds of corrupt and illegal practices by him and his agents, and general corruption so extensively prevailing so to reasonably supposed to have affected the election. Rahman's official election agent Alibor Choudhury was ordered to vacate his own office of councillor in the ward of Stepney Green for being guilty of corrupt and illegal practices.
The People's Alliance of Tower Hamlets (PATH) was a minor political party in Tower Hamlets, London, England composed of councillors who had formerly been members of Tower Hamlets First and then the Tower Hamlets Independent Group. The group was formed by Cllr Rabina Khan and her husband Cllr Aminur Khan as a split from the Tower Hamlets Independent Group in November 2016. Khan disbanded the party in 29 August 2018 and later joined the Liberal Democrats.
Aspire is a political party in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, England, formed by Lutfur Rahman and councillors elected as members of his Tower Hamlets First party. After Tower Hamlets First was removed from the register of political parties following voting fraud and malpractice, its councillors formed the Tower Hamlets Independent Group (THIG). After some defections, the remaining Tower Hamlets Independent Group councillors registered formally as a political party in 2018. Most of its elected members were former Labour Party members, with a few exceptions.
Elections to Tower Hamlets London Borough Council were held on 3 May 2018, the same day as other borough council elections in London. The directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets was also up for election.
Mulberry Place, formerly Tower Hamlets Town Hall, is a building in Nutmeg Lane, Blackwall, London. It was the headquarters of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council from 1992 to 2023, before their relocation to the new Tower Hamlets Town Hall in Whitechapel Road.
The 2022 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 45 members of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council were elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.