What’s in a name? Ward name changes proposed & LIF spending suggestions

It seems there is very little happening in the borough at the moment so some bright spark has decided to fill in a few days by suggesting changing some ward names.

These suggestions are of such importance that they should be read accompanied by a roll of drums. But we ain’t got none.

The suggestions are to change:

  • Bethnal Green ward to Bethnal Green East ward
  • St. Peter’s ward to Bethnal Green West ward
  • Canary Wharf ward to Millwall ward

Seems some idiot Labour councillor (doesn’t narrow it down much but you can guess who it is based on the crass stupidity of his comment) is deeply uncomfortable with Canary Wharf ward being associated with the huge number of businesses in, er, Canary Wharf who make money.

Seriously.

Seems that this councillor considers commercial ventures that generate profits to be tainted by the greedy hand of capitalism. Somebody needs to tell this individual with an IQ somewhere around room temperature that he needs to move on from his days in the National Union of Students and try playing with the grown-ups for once.

And point out to him that 40% of the boroughs revenue comes from business rates paid by companies in – Canary Wharf ward.

And that money pays his councillor allowance and the extra 50% he gets for speaking in a very loud voice to very little effect.

Odd that at least one councillor despises the name Canary Wharf at the same time that his party is in bed with Canary Wharf Group to help them change the ward name. More on this below.

Moley completed the survey and said all the ward names should be left just as they are.

You can have your say on proposed ward name changes here.

Cllr. Andrew Wood (Independent, Canary Wharf) provides the real reason behind this nonsense – Tower Hamlets Labour Party are helping Canary Wharf Group (CWG) change the ward name because they don’t like it.

Cllr. Andrew Wood.

According to Cllr. Wood ‘they [CWG] have always disliked the name, they wish to remain exclusive and separate from the rest of the ward especially before their 1st residents arrive in 2020, as anything bad happening in the rest of Canary Wharf ward affects their brand image.’

So off brand!

Oooooooooh! La di da!

Brand image my arse.

If CWG doesn’t like being in the borough they can sod off somewhere else. How off brand is that? Maybe CWG should get involved in the local community more maybe and make the neighborhood better?

You can read Cllr. Wood’s comments in full here on the Canary Wharf and Isle of Dogs Facebook group in a post dated 19th December 2019 (yes, a year ago).

Moley thinks it would be easier to leave the Canary Wharf ward name as it is and instead change the name of Canary Wharf Group.

Plan?

Maybe ‘Ooh, We Don’t Like Being Associated With Those Horrible Little Residents They Are So Poor Group’?

CWG might have to get bigger business cards printed to fit that on one line.

For those of you who are unaware Tower Hamlets Labour Party has very close links with certain CWG personnel, especially Howard Dawber, CWG Managing Director, who has previously stood as a Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the Labour Party and is Chair of Labour Friends of Bangladesh according to his Twitter profile.

And of course there is none other than Cllr. Tarik Khan who works for CWG too!

Arise! All who refuse to be slaves! ward

If we let CWG change the name of a ward to suit themselves what’s next, letting the Chinese government change the name of Shadwell ward to ‘Arise! All who refuse to be slaves! ward’ after the first line of the Chinese national anthem when (if) their new UK embassy gets built at Mint Place?

Please feel free to sing along.

Local Infrastructure Fund

While nobody, not even Moley, has discovered the true nature of the financial problems that Tower Hamlets Council is tackling it seems that the council wants local residents to help them with ideas of how to spend the Local Infrastructure Fund money.

Local Infrastructure Fund (LIF) money is cash that developers have to give the council when they build on the green and pleasant land that is Tower Hamlets.

Catch is that the LIF money can only be spent on infrastructure in the same ward as the development.

Need help filling in the LIF form? Just ask your local councillor for help!

Moley smuggled himself into a recent meeting for elected members (and non-elected moles) about the LIF. His whiskers were a twitching and a twanging when he saw the above slide which suggests that councillors should help residents fill in the LIF survey.

Uh huh.

Mole has not completed this yet but is reasonably sure even a mole can complete an online survey unaided.

He would like to remind you to complete the LIF survey with absolute integrity and not come up with any suggestions like building a brick wall around Cllr. Abdal Ullah’s giant 4×4 one night while it is parked up in Wapping.

Artists impression. Please do not try this at home.

The community benefits of this project would be immense and it would be interesting to see if Cllr. Ullah tweeted the news that his 4×4 had been bricked in with that stupid #weAreWapping hashtag.

#weHaveBeenBrickedIn would be more appropriate.

Are you fascinated by the wonderful world of LBTH Consultations? Do you want to make suggestions which will never be considered because the decision has already been made? Then you should visit the LBTH Consultation page Let’s talk.

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