Local news

  Traders and shop owners in Tower Hamlets are taking their traditional sales technique online in an effort to attract new customers. Over the past three months, the council’s high streets and town centres team has arranged for 16 businesses in Watney Market to take part in social media and online marketing training. The programme, delivered by Social Streets, saw ...

Students at four schools have been creating a series of designs to be used on reusable bags to help reduce the use of plastic shopping bags in Roman Road. The council and community group Plastic Free Roman Road partnered up for the ‘borrow-a-bag’ scheme, which will see businesses handing out upcycled fabric bags made by members of the public for ...

At a meeting of Tower Hamlets Council last week, councillors voted overwhelmingly in favour of an ambitious plan to clean up our air and help tackle climate change. The plan, set out in a council motion, lists actions that the council will take to tackle air pollution over the coming months and years. The motion builds on a decision taken ...

More than 21,000 free meals will be given to children at council funded school holiday activity venues this summer to tackle some of the pressures families face during the school holiday period when free school meals are unavailable. With over a third of school pupils in Tower Hamlets eligible for free school meals, food poverty is a large and growing problem ...

  Charlotte Harris, a University of East London (UEL) graduate who is now a lecturer in the University’s School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering (ACE), has won a prestigious architecture award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). HASA Architects, of which Ms Harris is a founding director, have won a London Regional Award for their Highgate Bowl project, which involves the transformation ...

  Wendy, speaking at UEL’s graduation ceremony on 18 July, stressed how important it is to work together. “As you go forward from today into your chosen areas of work, always remember to support one another, look after each other, work collaboratively, embrace diversity and check in frequently with one another.” Shabir Randeree, chancellor of UEL, conferred the title of ...

Ofsted has rated Tower Hamlets Council’s Children’s Service as ‘good’, just two years after the service was given an ‘inadequate’ rating. It represents ‘remarkable progress’ according to Ofsted after the council set an ambitious target of achieving the good rating following the previous inspection in 2017. (A rating of ‘needs improvement’ sits between inadequate and good). Back then, the council ...

  Following feedback from an extensive two stage public consultation on proposals to establish a parish council for the Spitalfields & Banglatown and Weavers areas in Tower Hamlets, councillors have decided to keep the existing governance arrangements. The results were confirmed at a meeting of Tower Hamlets Full Council on Wednesday 17 July, where councillors voted 28 in favour of ...

  A staunch supporter of university opportunities for students from low-income families, and a campaigner for a myriad of causes, Newham born Lewis Iwu has been granted anHonorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of East London (UEL) in recognition of his dedicated work in the local community. He told graduates of UEL at their annual graduation ceremony on 17 July, “I ...

Photo: Police have released images of two people they want to speak to in connection with the attack (collected image) A suspected CS gas attack has occurred on a London Underground train. It happened at 09:13 BST on board a Victoria line Tube train at Oxford Circus in central London. British Transport Police said a number of people were treated ...