Polling stations now open
Polling stations are open now until 10pm (they are red dots in the map)
More information here towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/council_a…
Take your own pen or pencil (but they will have spares)
Wear a mask unless exempt
You need to know your own name and address, you 1/
do not need a poll card if you lost it
Other than that same as a normal election except for changes in polling stations (Mellish moved to Arnhem Wharf, East India portacabin to the town hall), apparently, the NHS has taken all the spare portacabins!
Reminder 5 ballot papers;
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Mayor of London - 2 X first choice and 2nd choice
Local City & East Assembly Member - 1 X against a named person
London wide assembly member - 1X against a party list
Referendum - 1 X against Mayor or Leader
Referendum - Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Plan
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(if south of the blue bridge only) - vote Yes or No, vote Yes please
Let me know if you have any questions
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Good news or is it on NOX canisters?
At last TH Council has done something about the little silver canisters that litter our streets & are often linked to anti-social behaviour
But why did it take so long & why it may have little impact & why TH is so frustrating?
A new PSPO 1/
Public Space Protection Order was approved on Wednesday by the Mayor, it will ban the use of NOX nitrous oxide that people inhale via balloons from the canisters
It provides a short high so users have to keep inhaling more of them (& then for some reason do not pick them up) 2/
But NOX does have some negative health impacts talktofrank.com/drug/nitrous-o…
& some of those who use NOX also cause anti-social behaviour, cause loud noise etc & a few have been violent when asked to keep the noise down
There is no need for it to be inhaled close to peoples homes
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Battle for Brick Lane
The planning policy argument against Truman Brewery decision 5pm today
I asked to speak tonight as well but I missed deadline by a few hours & 5 people already registered
But I would have said that planning is a balancing act based on planning policies 1/
But not how planning works in TH, planning department won’t present a balanced view of what their & GLA policies say but as they support this development they will only quote policies that support this application
Not those policies which do not support this application 2/
These tweets try & supply a balancing corrective by quoting from the TH Local Plan 2031 towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/planning_…
Most Cllrs voted to approve this Plan last January (I didn’t) so they should be familiar with them
Decision makers (Cllrs tonight) have to weigh all of the policies
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Scrutiny work programme
One of my jobs is to sit on TH Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee. I have suggested below what I think we need to look at over the next year as areas that need more work. What would you add/amend/change?
1. Newly built residential towers containing affordable housing – endemic problems over a range of issues, these are complex buildings and not clear that housing associations nor managing agents can manage effectively especially in early months after occupation.
2. Service charge billing generally and heating / hot water / electricity charging specifically – clear that housing associations not very good at the basics nor managing agents of billing or of explaining service charge cost drivers.
UK government announced a £43 million support package for people from Hong Kong moving to the UK
Isle of Dogs already has a large ethnic chinese community & is the place in the UK most like HK, Limehouse was the 1st home for British chinese community 1/ scmp.com/news/hong-kong…
The government programme includes £ for 12 Welcome hubs plus £ for English classes & welcome packs gov.uk/guidance/welco…
A number of new homes are being built locally by HK companies (FEC) or with HK investment (Millharbour)
So @going4golds & I will be asking how TH Council
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is preparing for new arrivals
As tweet below shows reason for leaving is not economic but political (HK if a country is much richer per person then the UK is)
We do not know size of migration from HK to UK yet and where will settle but it would be good to be prepared
But Tower 3/
Stephen McPartland MP came to visit the Isle of Dogs today & later talked to 3 residents affected by fire safety/cladding issues, he has done more work on cladding then almost any other MP despite only have 4 affected blocks in his constituency = TH has at least 282! 1/
Actually we (the Council) do not know how many blocks have fire safety issues according to a Q I asked last week
282 blocks in TH applied for extra £ from government (Council only confirm 51 with ACM) but this won’t include most housing association blocks, separate fund
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Stephen provided some good advice to the campaigners & asked for practical steps that he can push, for example how waking watch works or removing VAT on remediation costs
Clear that very few MPs really understand the issues given the complexity
I talked about some of other
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Audit Committee tonight includes some shocking findings from Internal Audit review of Housing
Allocations & Lettings system
19,000 households are on the housing waiting list but findings suggest that some of those may no longer be active
Oldest not checked in yrs
13 of 20 had 1/
never bid for properties (although I know some people waiting for bidding numbers)
Some have been on the housing waiting list for 30-40 years & not been checked in years!
This all raises questions about how many of the 19,000 waiting list are real or do people give up?
BUT 2/
of 20 checked, 2 were homeowners!
As a reminder, you cannot bid (normally) for social housing if a homeowner (two TH Cllrs have gone to jail for doing this)
But this might explain why this happened if homeowners are being allowed to join & explain why Cllrs doing this fraud as
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