Tower Hamlets London Borough Council

Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Executive mayor elected every four years Whole council elected every four years
Coat of arms
Type
Type	London borough council of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Houses	Unicameral
Term limits	None
History
Founded	1 April 1965
Preceded by	Bethnal Green Borough Council Poplar Borough Council Stepney Borough Council
New session started	22 May 2014 (Municipal year 2014/2015)
Leadership
Executive mayor	John Biggs, Labour Party Since 11 June 2015
Speaker of Council	M.A. Mukit MBE Since 22 May 2014
Structure
Seats	45 councillors
Labour	23 / 45
Independent Group	13 / 45
Conservatives	5 / 45
Independent Councillors	5 / 45
Elections
Council voting system	Plurality-at-large
Mayor voting system	Supplementary vote
Council last election	22 May 2014
Mayor last election	11 June 2015
Council next election	2018
Mayor next election	2018
Meeting place
Town Hall, Mulberry Place
Website
www.towerhamlets.gov.uk
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 John Biggs.^[1]

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.^[2] 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.^[3]^[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.

History

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.

It was envisaged through the London Government Act 1963 that 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.

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 personally guilty of corrupt or illegal practices, or both (electoral fraud) under the Representation of the People Act 1983.^[5]^[6] He was thus removed from his office with immediate effect and was also personally debarred from standing for elected office until 2021.^[7]^[8]

Policies

From 1986 to 1994 the council experimented with decentralisation of services to seven neighbourhood areas.^[9]

Finances

Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the billing authority for Council Tax, and collects a precepts on behalf of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority the Greater London Authority and Transport for London.

Summary results of elections

Main article: Tower Hamlets local elections

Previous election results are as follows:

Election		Conservative	Labour	Lib Dem	Others
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/S.D.P. 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

List of councillors

The councillors as of 12 June 2015 are as follows:^[10]

Councillor	Political party	Ward
Khales Uddin Ahmed	Labour	Bromley North
Ohid Ahmed	Independent Group	Lansbury
Rajib Ahmed	Labour	Lansbury
Suluk Ahmed	Independent Group	Spitalfields & Banglatown
Sabina Akhtar	Labour	Stepney Green
Mahbub Alam	Independent Group	St Dunstan's
Shah Alam	Independent Group	Mile End
Amina Ali	Labour	Bow East
Shahed Ali	Independent Group	Whitechapel
Abdul Asad	Independent Group	Whitechapel
Craig Aston	Conservative	Limehouse
Asma Begum	Labour	Bow West
Rachel Blake	Labour	Bow East
Chris Chapman	Conservative	Blackwall & Cubitt Town
Dave Chesterton	Labour	Blackwall & Cubitt Town
Gulam Kibria Choudhury	Independent Group	Poplar
Andrew Cregan	Labour	Island Gardens
Julia Dockerill	Conservative	St Katharine's & Wapping
David Edgar	Labour	Mile End
Marc Francis	Labour	Bow East
Amy Whitelock Gibbs	Labour	Bethnal Green
Peter Golds	Conservative	Island Gardens
Shafiqul Haque	Independent Group	Bethnal Green
Clare Harrisson	Labour	St Peter's
Danny Hassell	Labour	Bromley South
Sirajul Islam	Labour	Bethnal Green
Denise Jones	Labour	St Katharine's & Wapping
Aminur Khan	Independent Group	Whitechapel
Rabina Khan	Independent	Shadwell
Shiria Khatun	Labour	Lansbury
Abjol Miah	Independent Group	St Peter's
Ayas Miah	Labour	St Dunstan's
Harun Miah	Independent Group	Shadwell
Md. Maium Miah	Independent Group	Canary Wharf
Mohammed Mufti Miah	Independent Group	Bromley North
Abdul Mukit	Labour	Weavers
Muhammad Ansar Mustaquim	Independent Group	St Peter's
Joshua Peck	Labour	Bow West
John Pierce	Labour	Weavers
Oliur Rahman	Independent Group	Stepney Green
Gulam Robbani	Independent Group	Spitalfields & Banglatown
Candida Ronald	Labour	Blackwall & Cubitt Town
Rachael Saunders	Labour	Mile End
Helal Uddin	Labour	Bromley South
Andrew Wood	Conservative	Canary Wharf

References

↑ "Tower Hamlets Mayoral Election - Thursday, 11th June, 2015". Tower Hamlets Council. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
↑ "Local Elections - Thursday, 22nd May, 2014". Tower Hamlets Council. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
↑ "Stepney Green - Thursday, 11th June, 2015". Tower Hamlets Council. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-33105311
↑ Tom Whitehead (2015-04-23). "Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman guilty of corrupt and illegal practices over election". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
↑ Parliament of the United Kingdom (8 February 1983), The Representation of the People Act 1983, Chapter 2 (as amended on the 23rd. July 2015), Part III, Section 159, London: The National Archives, Ministry of Justice, HM Government, retrieved 23 July 2015
↑ Tower Hamlets election fraud mayor Lutfur Rahman removed from office, BBC News, British Broadcasting Corporation, 23 April 2015, retrieved 25 July 2015
↑ Mike Brooke (29 April 2015), Rahman’s ‘Tower Hamlets First’ is removed from Electoral Commission’s party register, The Docklands and East London Advertiser, retrieved 25 July 2015
↑ Dench, Geoff (2006). The new East End : kinship, race and conflict. London: Profile. ISBN 1861979282.
↑ "Mayor and Councillors". Tower Hamlets Council. Retrieved 12 June 2015.

Local authorities in London

Regional	Greater London Authority

City of London	Corporation of London Inner Temple Middle Temple

London borough councils	Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Westminster

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Districts	Bethnal Green Blackwall Bow Bow Common Bromley-by-Bow Cambridge Heath Canary Wharf Coldharbour Cubitt Town Globe Town East Smithfield Fish Island Hackney Wick Isle of Dogs Leamouth Limehouse Mile End Millwall Old Ford Poplar Ratcliff St Katharine Docks Shadwell Spitalfields Stepney Tower Hill Wapping Whitechapel

Attractions	Brick Lane Christ Church, Spitalfields Fournier Street Museum of Childhood Museum in Docklands Ragged School Museum St Katharine Docks Tower Bridge Tower of London Traitors' Gate Whitechapel Art Gallery London Olympic Park

Street markets	Petticoat Lane Brick Lane Columbia Road Old Spitalfields Roman Road

Parks and open spaces	Altab Ali Park Bartlett Park Island Gardens Langdon Park Mile End Park Mudchute Tower Hamlets Cemetery Victoria Park

Governance	London borough council Directly elected mayor Civic mayor/speaker of council Constituencies: Bethnal Green and Bow Poplar and Limehouse

Bridges and tunnels	Blackwall Tunnel Greenwich foot tunnel Rotherhithe Tunnel Tower Bridge

Tube and rail stations	Aldgate East All Saints Bethnal Green Bethnal Green Blackwall Bow Church Bow Road Bromley-by-Bow Cambridge Heath Canary Wharf (DLR) Canary Wharf (tube) Crossharbour Devons Road East India Heron Quays Island Gardens Langdon Park Limehouse Mile End Mudchute Poplar Shadwell Shadwell South Quay Stepney Green Tower Gateway Tower Hill Wapping railway station West India Quay Westferry Whitechapel

Other topics	Council Grade I and II* listed buildings People Public art Schools

Category Commons

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