Hello Everyone,
I have to start my message to you this weekend
in a sombre mood because of the concerning events that took place at the Full
Council meeting on Thursday night over at the Old Town Hall Stratford. Along
with councillors and council officers, we were meeting to consider Budget
proposals for the coming 2024/25 financial year so that we can protect, invest
and improve all those things that matter to you and so many of our
residents. Unfortunately, the meeting was disrupted by a
number of protestors and for a short period we had to adjourn the business of
the council to deal with a really disturbing incident, when one of my
councillors was the target of anti-Semitic abuse, through the use of a
dehumanising trope. Some people in the
public gallery hissed like a snake as he got up to walk to the microphone so he
could speak freely in our Budget debate. You can read my full statement here, which I published on Friday
and the police are now involved because it is that serious. I have often said, as I did at the start of the
Full Council meeting on Thursday night, democracy
and freedom of speech in Newham will be defended at all costs, but that doesn’t
mean we turn a blind eye to hate or an undermining of democracy. Since 2018,
here at the council we have driven an agenda of good governance and
transparency; embracing participation in all aspects of local democracy – for
instance through our largest participatory budgeting programme People Powered
Places. We also do so much to
enable our residents to participate and be informed as citizens; and to
attend Council meetings or any of our civic events. But that doesn’t mean
allowing thuggery, bullying and intimidation to go unchallenged. We have seen
an increasing amount of this in recent years in our borough, and especially in
these past few months. We need for us all to fight against the increasing levels of abuse
and intimidation that we are seeing in all levels of public life. While we may
have different views and interests, including on some sensitive and challenging
issues, it is vital for the good of our borough and wider society that we all
take a strong stand against any form of hate and abuse in whatever form it
arises. Here at the Council we will take a stand to
protect and safeguard councillors as well as the freedom to participate in local
democracy, that so many have fought hard for over the centuries. We didn’t let the hatred and abuse stop us from
approving Our Local Investment for Fairness in Tough
Times Budget 2024/25, which was finally agreed
last Thursday. Despite the challenging financial pressures facing all local
authorities, our Budget 2024/25 includes: - Another
£11m added to the budget for Adult Social Care to support vulnerable and
elderly adults as demand increases;
- A
further £700k for children and young people with Special Educational Needs as
part of our commitment to our youngsters,
- Safeguarding
for another year our Children's Centres while we work through with partners how
best to achieve the outcomes we want for children;
- Protecting
Youth services in the borough while we speak to voluntary sector partners how
they can commit to our gold standards and deliver better for our young people;
- Maintaining
the music, chess and theatre enrichment programme offered to primary and
secondary school pupils this coming year, as we develop our Cultural Passport
plans to ensure every 10-18-year-old (and up to 25 years for young people with
SEND) have access to wider enrichment, skills and learning opportunities to
widen participation and embrace the diversity of cultural and creative forms
that they are also interested in.
- An
extra £17.5m as more and more people turn to the council for help because of
the ever-escalating housing crisis facing this country which has made them
homeless;
- Investing
£268m to address damp and mould in Council housing (which will also make our
stock of council homes energy efficient meaning cheaper energy bills for
residents), build more council homes and improve the existing ones;
- £460
million in capital investments so that we can continue to improve our roads,
pavements, and deliver homes our people can afford, including buying more homes
to support those in temporary accommodation.
Our budget has been set to ensure we deliver
our most important services to continue to serve the people of Newham well, and
while there is a rise in Council Tax, it’s still the lowest in east London and
we are keeping firmly in place the 90% council tax reduction scheme to support
low income households. Alongside our budget, we are also accelerating
our transformation plans for the Council, so it delivers high quality services
more efficiently for our residents. I’ve been talking in these years since I
have been Mayor that I want the Council to improve rapidly because I want it to
deliver the best for local people. For instance, I remember back in May 2019, a year after I became the Mayor
of Newham, I spoke frankly about the scale of the challenge facing the
Council in responding to the ambition of my administration. I said that the
Council was ‘not ready for the opportunities to be unleashed by the manifesto
promises’ I had made the year before; and then the year after we had 3-years
with the Covid-19 global pandemic. As you would expect, I task the Council to
always think about how it can improve its systems, processes and practices to
deliver the best for our people and our borough. That’s why it’s was great to
invite the Local Government Association to visit Newham last November as part
of a review process to help us benchmark against other local authorities; draw
on best practice and identify what’s going well and what needs to improve here
at the Council. This week, their Corporate Peer Challenge report was published alongside our Draft
Action Plan setting out the initial steps we will take to draw on the
learning from this process and continue to make sure we deliver the most
effective services for our residents. If you get a chance, please do read it! While we look for further ways to improve and
transform, it is so heartening to see some of the great work already being done
by the council being recognised by others.
It’s been a bumper of a week as there’s been a number of high moments
that show how things are changing at the Council. For instance: 1.
This
week OSTED described us as “highly effective”
and “impressive” in the way we support young people in and moving on from our
care, with a special shout out to the valuable work of
the Youth Empowerment Service and the Virtual School in supporting those in our
care and our care leavers; 2.
We
were also awarded a Leadership Award by Sustain: the alliance
for better food and farming for our commitment to and action on healthy
and sustainable food initiatives; 3.
We’ve
been shortlisted in three categories for the
annual LGC Awards, for our Independent Living Support Service, our
Private Sector Licensing Schemes and our London Network for Pest Solutions
service; There
are two special stand-out moments this week in particular for me though! Tuesday
was a mega BIG DEAL, when we secured unanimous planning approval for the £1 billion Carpenters Estate Masterplan
that was co-produced with residents. Finally, after some 20 years of incessant
hiatus by the Council which has really frustrated local residents; we have an
amazing masterplan that has been given the green-light by the LLDC planning
authority which will deliver 2,152 high-quality homes and 50% of those will be
at social rent levels. Some 314 existing homes on the estate will also be
retrofitted to the highest standard as part of our commitment to make Stratford
our first ‘Green Zone’ neighbourhood in the borough. I am
over the moon that we are delivering for residents, because the 28-acre Carpenters
site is one of the largest estate regeneration programmes in the country. As
well as beautiful homes for people living on the estate already (and those who
moved away years ago with the right to return on the back of earlier promises
by the Council that things would be progressed with rapidly); there’ll be a
brand new community centre, play and green areas alongside 10,000sqm of
commercial space and local amenities for cafes, restaurants, shops. Works will
begin as early as this summer, to kick start the delivery of 132 social homes
at James Riley Point and some exciting meanwhile use projects. On Monday, I was buzzing with excitement when I
visited the brand new, box-fresh Shipman Youth Zone in Custom House as I
delivered on an important promise to young people. Following an £8m
investment, young people now have access to a custom-built sports hall, a music
studio for budding musicians, a multimedia suite with green screen for film
production and a fitness and wellbeing suite offering opportunities to keep fit
and healthy. There’s also a dance studio, IT suite and an arts and crafts room,
alongside a fully functional kitchen where they can learn cooking and a garden where
they can learn all things horticultural. The new Shipman Youth Zone will also
support families as we’ll be co-locating a Family Hub there to support parents,
babies and young children access vital help and information. I can’t wait for
the official opening in a few months’ time the Youth Empowerment Service is
organising for young people to celebrate their new Youth Zone. Before I sign off, I wanted to provide an update
on our campaigning work with the 60 local traders from Market Village in
Stratford who have been shafted by their landlords. You’ll remember the shock
closure of the market in January; and we’ve been working to support them so
their businesses keep running. I have written to the Secretary of State for
Business and Trade to ask for her to urgently
look into the situation and make legal changes so that more protections are in
place for small businesses whose lives and livelihoods are put at risk by big
businesses. I’ll carry on working with the
traders and other to get our much-loved Market Village to reopen! In the
meantime, please do watch this amazing video from Hive Curates that tells
the story of some of the amazing traders at the Market Village and the value
they bring to Stratford, including
Centre café owner Angie who’s been there for 20-years leading the family
business. Finally, and this is one for all the amazing
girls and ladies in Newham, don’t forget next Friday 8th March its
International Women’s Day. It goes without saying that I salute the everyday
courage and determination of all girls and women in our borough as we continue
to challenge deep-rooted misogyny and everyday sexism. Power to us! We’re planning an inspiring event of
celebration and empowerment over at the Old Town Hall Stratford with an
exciting line-up of some awesome women. If you want to come, sign up here for your free ticket! Till next week, take care!
Best wishes,
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE Follow what I am up to via X/Twitter: @rokhsanafiaz | 
