Firstly, I wish you a happy new year and hope you had a good Christmas.

Apologies I haven’t sent an e-newsletter out for a while. My day job is working in Labour Head Office, so the last few months have been particularly busy. This was compounded by my wedding two days after the General Election!

With a leadership election kicking off, now is the time to join the Labour Party > https://join.labour.org.uk/ You can also sign up to be a supporter or £25 to vote, but joining will also mean you can take part in selections for Labour candidate for Mayor of Tower Hamlets and local councillor in 2021....

I’m kicking off the New Year with a mini-campaign against the poor quality of waste collection we have in Limehouse. I get particularly frustrated getting e-mails from residents who tell me of their block or street not being collected… only for me to chase it to find a poor excuse that no one has used common sense to fix (usually a lost keyfob).

If this is an issue for you, or you want to tell me about a particular ‘grotspot’ then please do so on my website where you can also sign the petition so it can be discussed at a future meeting of the full council.

Click here to find out more, sign the petition and fill in the survey.

Action in Limehouse

• The application to demolish and rebuild the youth hostel next to Our Lady Immaculate and St Frederick’s Church into a 7 storey hotel has been rejected.

• I took the Chief Operations Officer of One Housing Group around a couple of blocks they own on Commercial Road to meet unhappy residents and get guarantees to fix the issues that had accumulated.

• The eastern end of Narrow Street has been resurfaced by the council.

• Street lights on Milligan Street have been replaced and the Safer Neighbourhood Team have increased patrols after anti social behaviour reports.

• I worked with several community groups and individuals to submit local ideas for the Local Infrastructure Fund- which is spent on community assets with priorities set by the local community.

Coming up in Limehouse

• A decision to proceed with the structural repair of Malting & Brewster Houses is scheduled for the end of Jan/beginning of February. Additional structural tests have been undertaken in the last few months and these will be subject to verification by an independent body before the council proceeds. THH have aso been assessing the needs of each household for when the work begins with which I have been working with them closely.

• The council has redesigned the proposed development on Gill Street (the old portakabin site) after Phase 1 of the consultation and Phase 2 of the consultation is scheduled for the end of February

In Tower Hamlets

The council published its draft budget over Christmas. The Tory government has cut £14.6 million from this year’s budget and growth has been focused on the rising demand in Children's Services and Adult Social Care. This budget will be agreed in mid February.

Tower Hamlets Mayor, John Biggs, will host the latest Ask the Mayor question and answer session on Thursday 16 January 2020 between 7pm - 9pm at the Spotlight Centre, Langdon Park.

I look forward to responding to the budget in my role as Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny committee.

• First women only led market in London set up in Tower Hamlets

• New transport strategy prioritises walking and cycling

• Council tightens up controls on gambling

I am back in the routine of having a surgery every Saturday from 12.30 at Limehouse Youth Hub, so please feel free to pop in if you want to discuss anything face to face.

Yours sincerely,