Tower HamletsThe council
Tower Hamlets is one of the UK’s best local authorities, and this is the most exciting time in our history.
Many of our services are award-winning and in 2022 we were shortlisted for MJ’s Council of the Year.
We have moved into one of the best Town Halls in the UK - the Grade II-listed former Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel - and we are well underway in delivering the ambitious vision of our Executive Mayor Lutfur Rahman.
That vision includes being the first local authority in the country to provide universal free school meals for primary and secondary school children, and the insourcing of services including leisure, youth and housing management.
Our recent Peer Review described the council as ‘an organisation which has a comprehensive understanding of the needs of residents and communities,’ and praised our pace of delivery.
Tower Hamlets offers the best of London in one borough
Our borough is one of the most popular places in the UK to live, work and visit. We provide the UK’s third largest economic output; we are steeped in London’s history and one of the most culturally diverse places in the world; are the fastest growing and most densely populated place in the UK and Tower Hamlets has a set of destinations that are the envy of any city.
We are a borough of contrasts
There is extreme wealth and poverty, and it is our job to broker opportunities to create a Tower Hamlets for everyone.
We build more homes than any other London local authority, yet over 21,000 people are on our housing waiting list, and 70% of those in the top two tiers live in overcrowded conditions.
We have some of the best-performing schools in the country, yet 48.7% of children live in poverty and by age 11 over half of our children are overweight or obese.
There are nearly 300,000 jobs in Tower Hamlets
Our young people need more support to access further education, or training and job opportunities to start their careers.
We know the value that leisure, recreation and learning opportunities can provide our residents. Many of our 120 parks are award-winning including Victoria Park which has been voted among the 10 best parks in the country.
These are some of the areas where we are making significant investment to improve more lives at a faster rate.
For example, we are investing £28m into our 7 leisure centres and our Idea Stores are hubs for community life, offering a place for families, students and adults to read, learn, use computers and take part in subsidised training courses.
