London

A new road charge in London will be introduced next month to help tackle emissions from the oldest polluting vehicles. The Toxicity Charge is being introduced by Transport for London. From Monday 23 October as part of a package of actions intended to help clean up London's dangerously polluted air, a new charge for drivers will be in place. The T-Charge is an additional charge to the existing Congestion Charge scheme and entails a £10 supplement for vehicles that do not meet the Euro 4 standards for both PM and NOx (largely equating to vehicles registered before 2006 or over 10 years old). It only applies in Congestion Charge hours Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm and to the same area. This excludes bank holidays and the period between Christmas Day and New Year's Day inclusive. There is a...

Ahead of this year's World Mental Health Day on 10 October, Tower Hamlets Council is sharing its findings on how loneliness can affect anyone. Loneliness is increasingly recognised as a serious health concern having a detrimental impact on health and wellbeing, affecting people of all ages. Mayor John Biggs said: The council and its partners are looking to tackle loneliness more widely and these projects provided a valuable insight into what we can do as a community to make life better for residents suffering from loneliness. Reducing loneliness not only improves people's health and wellbeing, transforming their lives, but also reduces the strain on health and care services. A video was commissioned to capture two projects that further explored loneliness. The 'Community Perspectives on Lo...

John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, has announced a multi-million pound investment in community safety to increase the number of council funded police officers in the borough to thirty-nine (39). The Mayor raised concerns that cuts to the police's budget has reduced the number of police in Tower Hamlets and has committed £3m of funding over the next three years to help protect neighbourhood policing. The police officers are tasked with tackling areas where crime and anti-social behaviour are issues and they will tackle acid attacks, drug dealing and violent crime. 14 officers will be responsible for tackling crime on estates and 25 additional officers will work across the borough. A new 'Designing Out Crime' officer will also help planners, housing providers and developers to ensure that f...

    A female teacher who had a full-blown sexual relationship with a 15-year-old schoolboy has been jailed for 16 months. Alice McBrearty, 23, admitted having a four-month fling earlier this year with a pupil she taught at an east London school. Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how McBrearty kissed the youngster in a classroom, took him to an Ibis hotel for sex, and performed sex acts on him in an empty garage and in her car. She also took the teenager to her parents' home in Wanstead Park, east London, where she performed sex acts on him and had sex. McBrearty, who pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust at an earlier hearing, put her head in her hands and sobbed in the dock as Judge Sheelagh Canavan sentenced her on Friday. Ja...

Residents have six weeks to tell the council whether its draft Local Plan, which sets out the guidance for development and future investment decisions until 2031, is sound and legally compliant. Consultation on the draft plan opens on Monday 2 October 2017 and closes on Monday 12 November 2017. It is being used to ensure the Local Plan's policies are positively prepared, effective, justifiable and consistent with national policy and the legal requirements and procedures set out in the regulations. John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets said: "It's really important that local people have their say and help us to shape our vision for Tower Hamlets up to 2031. We listened to local views which have helped us set out what types of development should take place, where and how they should be delivere...

Following two public consultations, Tower Hamlets Council has now launched a Development Viability Supplementary Planning Document to implement a standardised approach, increase transparency and ensure planning obligations are being met. Tower Hamlets is the fastest growing Borough in the country. One of the biggest challenges we face is ensuring that growth works for local people and the demand for delivering genuine affordable housing is met. Development viability is a financial exercise undertaken to assess the level of planning obligations (e.g. affordable housing) a particular development scheme can potentially deliver. In order to help meet this challenge, Tower Hamlets Council has adopted the Development Viability Supplementary Planning Document. This aims to provide greater clarity...

An opportunity to vote for a favourite green space in the UK is possible by the click of a button. People's Choice, who run the Green Flag Awards, want people to vote to find the UK's top 10 favourite parks. Any green space is eligible to win so long as visitors can enter free of charge. Previously in Tower Hamlets, Victoria Park has won a Green Flag Heritage Award and been voted the People's Park. Green Flag awards are given annually in recognition of exceptional high quality green public spaces. They drive up the standards of parks and green spaces and access to quality green space is something we all desire. You can vote anytime up to 30th September. To vote use the map to find to your favourite park and click the vote button. Once you've voted, don't forget to encourage others to get i...

Residents in the Weavers area offered suggestions for making their community more attractive, when they joined Mayor John Biggs and Cllr Amina Ali, Cabinet Member for Environment on a street audit in their neighbourhood. Street audits, where residents walk through their local area, identifying potential improvements, are part of the Mayor's Neighbourhood Refresh programme, a £3 million scheme to invest in local infrastructure and improve neighbourhoods. The programme is being rolled out across the borough over the next three years and residents and community groups in the Weavers area were some of the first to be consulted. During the street audit, residents pointed out where they would like to see more trees, raised kerbs a pedestrian crossing and CCTV. Suggestions included introducing a ...

A new Stop Smoking London Helpline service, funded and supported by Tower Hamlets Council and 29 other London Boroughs, has been launched by the Association of Directors of Public Health (ADPH) London. The helpline (0300 123 1044) has been launched alongside Stoptober; the national campaign that encourages people to stop smoking for 28 days and beyond. John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets said: "We all know that smoking is bad for our health and Stoptober is a great way to finally kick the habit for good with thousands of other people. We are working in partnership with other councils to offer professional help and support in a simple and convenient way." Fabiana Boarin, decided to use local services to help her quit for good after finding out she was pregnant. She spoke to Dipul from the Qu...

People over the age of 50 will join the council and health and community organisations to mark this year's International Day of Older Persons on October 1. The day is celebrated annually to recognise the contributions older people make to society and to examine issues that affect their lives. Events including entertainment, information sessions, and health and wellbeing activities, will take place at LinkAge Plus centres during the week of October 2. Funded by the council and Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), LinkAge Plus centres offer a range of activities to help people over the age of 50 achieve a better quality of life, improve their physical and mental well-being and reduce social isolation. In 2015, there were an estimated 16,700 people aged 65 or over living in Tower...