Thread by @Andrewwood17

Tonight at Council is a rather strange Labour motion, it starts:
1. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) intends to close the JobCentre Plus branch based at Dod Street, Poplar.
2. That the reasons for the closure are due to the landlord not renewing the lease
Why odd?
1/

Clearly, we do not want the Job Centre closing & I would support asking the DWP to find another location so I am not sure what the 30 minute debate is about, we can all agree to that
What is odd is that since July 2019 TH Council has known of plans to re-develop the site
2/

for 84 homes in a new 8 storey building & to close the Job Centre
And in November 2020 TH Councillors voted unanimously to approve the development which included the transfer of the Job Centre to Mansell Street
democracy.towerhamlets.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=1…
3/

So why has the Council not since 2019 been worked with the DWP to find another site?
Why in September 2021 are we debating something that should have been raised last November when Cllrs voted to demolish the building?
This is @going4golds & I amendment p1
Red our additions
4/

2nd page
There was a programme in 2018 of some job centre closures but that did not include Dod Street nor any centres in east London, I cannot find any evidence of a planned closure
gov.uk/government/new…
So I suspect closure linked to the developer wanting to redevelop site
5/

(not in a great office location) for housing
& TH has missed its housing targets for 2 years in a row
But does not explain the lack of action since 2019 in finding an alternate location perhaps a co-location with Council building i.e. new Town Hall?
6/

Administration motion debate is most important & longest opportunity (30 minutes) to debate an issue of importance to Tower Hamlets (only get to do this 5 times a year so important)
I am not saying the closure of Dods is not important but given tweets above why 30 min debate?
7/