New London town council could be on the cards

The campaign for a new local (parish and town) council in London has been given a boost following a decision by Tower Hamlets Borough Council to validate a petition by campaigners.

The move by the borough council follows a recent submission by the campaign group for a new local council in Spitalfields. The borough council has launched the necessary community governance review and will now consider whether a new local council, Spitalfields Town Council, should be created within the two wards of Spitalfields and Banglatown, and Weavers.

The borough council is consulting all residents in the two affected wards as well as any other person, organisation or business who has an interest in the review. Two consultation phases will take place. The first phase began on 8 October and will close on 31 December 2018. A second stage, putting forward the borough council’s draft recommendations, will take place in spring 2019. The review must be completed by 22 July 2019. The review consultation will end on 31 December 2018 – Find out more about the online consultation

The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) supports the campaign group in its endeavour to create a new local council in Spitalfields, fully believing that London needs far more local councils to improve community engagement and service delivery at the grassroots level in the capital. The Spitalfields campaign has been the most robust campaign for a new local council in London since the creation of Queen’s Park Community Council in Westminster in 2014.

Cllr Sue Baxter, NALC chairman, said: “We wish the Spitalfields campaign group all the luck in the world. It has campaigned tirelessly to secure valid signatures on its petition. We have been impressed with the speed and attention to detail of Tower Hamlets Borough Council in framing the terms of reference for the review, and now launching it. We will continue to offer support both to the campaign group and the borough council to the end of the review in July 2019. Spitalfields residents will all be winners from a new town council in the area.”