Don’t miss the chance to decide how to improve your area

Residents in Tower Hamlets are being urged not to miss out on the opportunity to decide how to improve their communities.
Local people have come up with dozens of improvement ideas as part of a recently-launched Tower Hamlets Council programme putting power in the hands of residents.
Through the Mayor’s Community Ward Forums, the Council has asked residents to decide how to spend a total of £170,000 on enhancing communities across the borough.
Each of the 17 wards in the borough has its own resident-run Forum, with £10,000 to spend on the local area.
During February, the Forums will hold their second meetings, at which they will decide which of the ideas to proceed with.
Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman said: “This is a golden opportunity for local people to help shape the future of their communities, as £10,000 can make a real difference to an area.
“The turnout at the first round of meetings was really impressive and showed how much enthusiasm there is for this new programme.
“Let’s make sure this level of interest continues at the next meetings – that way we will know the chosen ideas have the support of the whole community.”
During December each of the Forums held their first meeting, at which residents decided what the top priorities were in their area and came up with a range of ideas for initiatives and events that would help them achieve some of these priorities.
Ideas include healthy food awards for restaurants, a community festival, a new children’s play area, planting fruit trees, on-street cycle storage, pop-up smoothie bars, creating music facilities and setting up art classes.
The Forums are being supported by Community Champion Coordinators, local people who have volunteered to lead the process. The Council is stressing that the Coordinators are only responsible for the work of the Forums – other local issues should be directed through ward councillors as usual.
The Forums’ ideas are being costed and analysed further before they decide at their next meetings which of them to concentrate on and take forward.
For more information on the Community Ward Forums visit www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/localforums