Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a

directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets The mayor of Tower Hamlets is the directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council in east London, England. The first election for this position occurred on 21 October 2010, taking on the executive function of the borough counci ...

, currently Lutfur Rahman. Following the May 2014 election, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council was composed of 22 Labour Party members, 19

Tower Hamlets First Tower Hamlets First was a British political party represented in Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, which was launched to contest the 2014 local elections in the Borough. During its existence, it was the second largest party on Tower Hamlets ...

members and 5

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

members. 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. Lutfur Rahman was again elected as Mayor in the 2022 London Borough elections, beating incumbent Labour Mayor John Biggs. The council was created by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced three local authorities:

Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough Council Bethnal Green was a civil parish and a metropolitan borough in the East End of London, England. It was formed as a civil parish in 1743 from the Bethnal Green hamlet in Stepney ancient parish, and the church of St Matthew, Bethnal Green, was ded ...

Poplar Metropolitan Borough Council Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was formed as a district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became a metropolitan borough in the County of London in 1900. It comprised Poplar, Millwall, Bromley ...

and

Stepney Metropolitan Borough Council The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was a Metropolitan borough in the County of London created in 1900. In 1965 it became part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Formation and boundaries The borough was formed from thirteen civil parishes a ...

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

on 1 April 1965. Tower Hamlets London Borough Council replaced

and

. 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 The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c.120) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Metropolitan Board of Works, a London-wide body to co-ordinate the construction of the city's infrastructure. The Act al ...

. Stepney had a more convoluted history with the metropolitan borough council established in 1900 replacing the

Limehouse District Board of Works Limehouse was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London, England from 1855 to 1900. History It was formed by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 and was governed by the Limehouse District Board of Works, which consisted ...

, the

Whitechapel District Board of Works Whitechapel was a local government district within the metropolitan area of London, England from 1855 to 1900. History It was formed by the Metropolis Management Act 1855 and was governed by the Whitechapel District Board of Works, which consis ...

and the parish vestries of

Mile End Old Town Mile End is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, England, east-northeast of Charing Cross. Situated on the London-to-Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of London. It became part of the m ...

and

St George in the East St George-in-the-East is an Anglican Church dedicated to Saint George and one of six Hawksmoor churches in London, England. It was built from 1714 to 1729, with funding from the 1711 Act of Parliament. Its name has been used for two forms of p ...

. It was envisaged that through the

London Government Act 1963 The London Government Act 1963 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the ...

Tower Hamlets as a London local authority would share power with the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

. 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 Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring ...

. Tower Hamlets became an

education authority The Education Authority ( ga, Údarás Oideachais) is a non-departmental body sponsored by the Department of Education (Northern Ireland), Department of Education in Northern Ireland. It was established under the Education Act (Northern Ireland) ...

in 1990. Since 2000 the

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and the ...

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. In September 2008, Tower Hamlets London Borough Council named two tower blocks in Sidney Street Peter House and Painter House, even though

Peter the Painter Peter the Painter ( lv, Pēteris Krāsotājs), also known as Peter Piaktow (or Piatkov, Pjatkov, Piaktoff; lv, Pēteris Pjatkovs), was a member of a gang of immigrant Latvian anarchists in London in the early 20th century. After supposedly fight ...

was only involved in a minor capacity in the robbery, was not present at the

siege of Sidney Street The siege of Sidney Street of January 1911, also known as the Battle of Stepney, was a Shootout, gunfight in the East End of London between a combined police and army force and two Latvians, Latvian revolutionaries. The siege was the culminati ...

, and may not have existed at all. A local councillor and the

Metropolitan Police Federation The Metropolitan Police Federation is a staff association that represents the interests of all police in the Metropolitan Police Service up to the rank of Chief Inspector in England and Wales. It seeks to ensure that the Metropolitan Police Serv ...

protested against this, saying that he should not be honoured. 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 In United Kingdom election law, election court is a special court convened to hear a petition against the result of a local government or parliamentary election. The court is created to hear the individual case, and ceases to exist when it ha ...

officially reported Rahman to be guilty of corrupt or illegal practices, or both (

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

) under the

Representation of the People Act 1983 The Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the British electoral process in the following ways: * Amended the Representation of the People Act 1969. * Stated that a convicted pe ...

. He was thus removed from his office with immediate effect and was also personally debarred from standing for elected office until 2021. A BBC article in 2018 stated that "Police investigating electoral fraud during the 2014 Tower Hamlets mayoral election have not found sufficient evidence to charge anyone".

Powers and functions

The local authority derives its powers and functions from the London Government Act 1963 and subsequent legislation, and has the powers and functions of a London borough council. It sets council tax and as a billing authority also collects precepts for

functions and business rates. It sets planning policies which complement Greater London Authority and national policies, and decides on almost all planning applications accordingly. It is a

local education authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were local councils in England that are responsible for education within their jurisdiction. The term was used to identify which council (district or county) is locally responsible for education in a system wit ...

and is also responsible for

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

, social services, libraries, waste collection and disposal, traffic, and most roads and environmental health.

Policies

From 1986 to 1994 the council experimented with decentralisation of services to seven neighbourhood areas.

Summary results of elections

Previous election results are as follows:

List of councillors

The councillors before and after the 2022 elections were as follows: and 8 May 2022.

References