Getting Closer to Communities 2005 - 2006

Tower Hamlets, at the heart of London’s East End, is one of Britain’s most culturally vibrant and diverse areas and has for centuries been home for many immigrants. Today, over 200,000 people live within its 8 square miles, some 49% of whom are from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. 33% are of Bangladeshi heritage, and there are sizeable Somali, Caribbean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian and Pakistani communities.

The fabric of the area is changing rapidly, bringing tremendous economic diversity: 40% of all London’s construction work is within Tower Hamlets, and the unrivalled development around Canary Wharf and the City fringes sits alongside some of the country’s most deprived areas.

Against this background of cultural diversity and rapid economic and social change, the council and its partners provide local leadership that is building ever-stronger links with its communities, promoting and supporting cohesion between them and delivering real improvements in the quality of life for local people.

Achievements

The Local Strategic Partnership shares a vision to improve the quality of life for all who live and work in Tower Hamlets, based on effective community engagement. What follows is just a sample of our achievements.

Making Tower Hamlets a Better Place for Living Safely

• Residents and young people worked with service providers to successfully tackle a graffiti problem on one local estate.
• Targeted work with 6,000 young people on ten estates has resulted in a 50% fall in the number of criminal charges, reprimands and final warnings given to young people.

Case study: Safer Neighbourhoods

Making Tower Hamlets a Better Place for Living Well

• Unprecedented tenant involvement in the council’s Housing Choice initiative enabled a successful stock transfer programme that is raising the investment needed to improve housing conditions.
• A targeted drive for trainee social workers recruited 86% of entrants from local Bangladeshi and Somali communities.

Case study: Housing Choice

Making Tower Hamlets a Better Place for Creating and Sharing Prosperity

• The new London Muslim Centre, facilitated by the council, is developing links across the community and promoting a better understanding of Islamic culture. It will provide 140 new jobs by 2007.
• The council’s workforce is increasingly drawn from the local community: 36% of staff are from BME communities.

Case study: Claim the Max Campaign

Making Tower Hamlets a Better Place for Learning, Achievement and Leisure

• Educational attainment has improved significantly. Bangladeshi pupils perform better at 16 than in any other area. Our Primary Attendance Project dramatically improved pupil attendance by liaising with the community through mosques.
• Around 25% of Tower Hamlet’s teachers and 50% of teaching assistants are from BME backgrounds.

Case study: Improving school attendance project

Making Tower Hamlets a Better Place for Excellent Public Services

• The Council’s weekly newspaper, East End Life, contains pages written in Bengali and Somali. It is read by 79% of residents.
• 29 of 51 councillors come from BME backgrounds.
• Over 1000 young people helped to produce the Young People’s Community Plan.

Case study: Local Area Partnerships
Idea Stores

Key messages:

Encouraging engagement from a diverse community takes strong leadership and effective community planning. Tower Hamlets has benefited from a strong Local Strategic Partnership vision, which is embedded into service planning across the borough. The partnership is able to draw on the local knowledge and community contacts of an elected membership that reflects the ethnic makeup of the borough.

High quality mainstream services, focused on improving outcomes for all communities is essential for building trust and encouraging further community involvement in shaping the planning and delivery of services.

Effective partnership working between public services, local community groups and the voluntary sector is at the heart of improving both the level of service provided to communities, and the level of community involvement in the decision-making process.

Developing a workforce which reflects the local community helps build trust and increases local engagement. Staff from the community are a natural link between the organisation and the people it serves. Such a policy also opens up job opportunities for local residents.

Two-way communication is key. Residents who feel detached from their local public service providers are more likely to develop a negative image of them. Communication and consultation must be an integral part of strategic planning, never a ‘bolt-on’ at the end of a project.