4 Years On
Delivery, investment and visible progress across the borough
An overview of the delivery record across education, housing, public services, community safety, business, leisure, the environment and local support.
£10m+
Distributed over £10million in cost-of-living support payments to residents in need.
6,000+
On track to deliver over 6,000 affordable homes by May 2026 – the majority family-sized.
£4.4m
Invested to offer Free School Meals for all Primary and Secondary School Students.
£13.7m
A year is being invested to open a youth centre in every ward.
ACCELERATE EDUCATION:
- 1Over £3.2m invested in supporting 2,400 students with university costs through the University Bursary Programme, which offers £1500 per student.
- 2Achieved Outstanding in our Children’s Services OFSTED inspection
- 3Over £1.3m invested in supporting over 2,800 students through higher education with the Education Maintenance Allowance - £600 per student
- 4Over 58,000 children supported through our family hubs service
- 5Over £2.5m being invested in SEND children provision including £1m in improved transport.
- 6Invested £4.4m to become the first borough in the country to offer Free School Meals for all Primary and Secondary School Students, benefiting 38,000 pupils and saving the average family of 3 children £1,650 a year.
- 7Free School Uniforms for over 7000 pupils in the borough each year: £50 for reception starters and £150 for secondary starters
- 8Created Tower Hamlets Education Awards celebrating pupils who achieve high attainment and the families and teachers who help facilitate it
- 9Invested £800,000 to offer free language classes for young people aged 6-16, teaching heritage languages like Arabic, Bengali, Mandarin, and Somali through our Young Community Languages scheme.
TACKLING THE COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS:
- 1Distributed over £10million in cost-of-living support payments to residents in need.
- 2Millions of free meals for residents from food supplied to food aid organisations.
- 3Froze Council Tax for all residents in year 1 (2022/2023)
- 4Introduced Council Tax Cost-Of-Living Relief Fund for residents earning under £53,350 – meaning these residents do not have to pay any council tax increase
- 5Invested £1 million a year to reintroduce the Meals on Wheels service - serving hot dinners to vulnerable residents 7 days a week.
- 6Over 4,000 elderly supported with a £175 winter fuel payment winter 2024, following the government's decision to cut
HOMES FOR THE FUTURE:
- 122,000 formerly Tower Hamlets Homes brought back in-house, to ensure direct control and management by the Council.
- 2On track to deliver over 6,000 affordable homes by May 2026 – the majority family-sized.
- 3An additional 3,300 homes to be delivered as part of Mayor’s Accelerated Housing Programme on over 40 council-owned sites.
- 4Delivered wheelchair-accessible housing for more than 100 households.
- 51,125 residents suffering from homelessness supported into sustainable accommodation.
- 6Over £134 million spent on Temporary Accommodation to help residents suffering homelessness to remain in or near the borough.
- 7£609million investing in council-owned homes improvement, including removing damp and mould; fire and building safety; roof and lift repairs and replacements, and improving homes by fitting new kitchen units, windows, doors and bathrooms.
- 8Created a £1million homelessness fund to support residents struggling with their housing costs.
- 9By May 2026, we will have delivered an additional 1,250 car parking spaces across the borough.
A CLEAN AND GREEN future
- 1£5m invested in tackling the waste emergency
- 2£15m invested in waste services – including 72 additional frontline staff
- 3Over £2m invested in improving recycling in the borough
- 4Over £1m invested in improving recycling in estates
- 5Over £350,000 invested in upgrading TH fleet to electric vehicles
- 6Over £6.3m invested in installing 2,150 new EV charging points across the borough, exceeding our target by 150 chargers.
- 7Over 70 local businesses trained to be more energy efficient
- 8Around £50,000 in grants distributed to support energy reduction in local businesses
- 9Planted over 3000 trees across the borough.
BOOST CULTURE, BUSINESS, JOBS &LEISURE
- 1£300,000 free swimming and aquatic sessions for women and girls (16+) and men (55+). Over 20,000 have signed up – 83% of which are women and girls.
- 2Kept open all of our swimming pools, with a new one to open in St George’s.
- 3Rates relief for thousands of businesses, saving them millions of pounds
- 4Five new outdoor gyms in the borough's public spaces.
- 5Invested £800k in four new play-zones
- 6Over £5 million invested in sports facilities, gyms, and outdoor playgrounds
- 7Over 1,500 residents engaged in over 2,200 training programs through workpath
- 8Over 340 apprenticeship opportunities created
- 9One-hour free parking introduced to help market traders
- 10Introduction of the Permit Transfer Scheme (PTS) – meaning someone moving to a car free zone of two bedrooms or more from overcrowded households can retain one on-street resident parking permit.
- 11Over £40 million invested in Leisure including bringing leisure services under council management
- 12£67m invested in redeveloping St George’s Leisure Centre and Housing which is on track to be delivered and will deliver 33 family sized council homes.
- 13Relaunched the Brick Lane and Banglatown Curry Festival – celebrating our brilliant cultural and culinary heritage.
EMPOWER COMMUNITIES TO FIGHT CRIME:
- 1Established an Anti-Crime Taskforce with huge investment in community safety.
- 2£4m to upgrade and install 350 CCTV cameras across the borough and state of the art CCTV monitoring system
- 3Over £3.3m to directly fund 24 additional police officers and £4m to triple the number of Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers to 72 to keep the borough safe.
- 43000+ weapons deposited in amnesty boxes across the borough
- 5Invested £500k to launch a dedicated Drugs Squad with 6 THEOs and 1 team leader.
- 6Introduced a dedicated Dog Squad to help tackle organised crime and drug dealing in the borough.
- 7£3.7million being invested in 100 new estate cameras across 26 estates, and replacing 363 defunct cameras.
- 8Worked closely with the Council of Mosques and the Interfaith Forum to promote community cohesion
- 9Persuaded the authorities to keep Bethnal Green Police Station front counters open
- 10Invested nearly £2m to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls, including advocates, housing support, refuges, and a new strategy.
INVEST IN Public services
- 1£13.7 million a year is being invested to open a youth centre in every ward. 20 are already operating, including Sister Space, a dedicated centre for young women and girls. This funding also provides 75 additional youth workers. To date, 5,632 young people have registered, and more than 5,000 sessions were delivered last year.
- 2Over £11m allocated for mayor’s community grants for local and voluntary community sector organisations, benefiting 86 organisations delivering 110 projects.
- 3Over £2.8m allocated as small grants to help with projects run by the voluntary and community sector.
- 4Achieved ‘Good’ in our CQC Adult Social Care inspection
- 5Invested £5million in free homecare for all who need it.
- 6Burial ground at Eternal Gardens
- 7Opened a dedicated borough-wide centre for women – the Nari Centre – in Vallance Road.
- 8Reopened five Residents Hubs across the borough to improve access to services.
A COUNCIL THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE:
- 1New Town Hall opened in Whitechapel – the beating heart of the borough.
- 2200 – 300 people seen monthly at Mayor’s twice-weekly resident surgeries.
- 3£500,000 invested to reopen Watney Market Idea Store.
- 4A positive Local Government Association Peer Review.
- 5£900k investment in community engagement through Love Tower Hamlets.
- 6Designed and rolled out a Workforce to Reflect the Community strategy to ensure the council reflects our residents.
- 7Trebled council tax on long-term vacant properties.
4 Years On
Lutfur Rahman Newsletter 2026
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