Andrew Gilligan
In view of a recent thread concerning Mr Gilligan this press release caught my eye since there are some similarities between our Borough and Tower Hamlets:"Tuesday 2 March 2010Channel 4 's Dispatches programme, ' Britain's Islamic Republic', presented a picture of Tower Hamlets which many who live and work in the borough fail to recognise. Supposition and innuendo replaced the facts about a place with a proud tradition of anti-racism and where social cohesion is evident. Mr Gilligan presented little of substance and nothing that demonstrated that Tower Hamlets Council has acted improperly.Some of the comments made during last night's programme are familiar to us and have already been investigated. We will examine any evidence of illegal or inappropriate activity by council officers or councillors, should any evidence be provided to us. We accept that there will always be some members of the community who are unhappy about losing grant funding and urge people to come forward with any proof they may have that grants have been provided unfairly, either to the Council or the appropriate complaints/government body.We will continue to assess and appraise rigorously all of the groups we fund, to ensure that their aims and objectives are in line with our own - to deliver excellent, cost-effective services based upon the needs of our communities. In the early 1990s, Tower Hamlets faced the challenge of the far-right making in-roads into the borough. The response from the Council was to reflect on what these divisions, usually seen as racial, meant for the borough and particularly how to create a place that could appreciate its diversity, tackle the inequality which often results and shapes a cohesive community. Anchored in this anti-racist work, the Council has developed its equalities practice so that, thirteen years later, in 2006, we became the first Council to reach Level 5 of the Equality Standard for Local Government. This journey is the real story of Tower Hamlets.The simplistic, selective and unsubstantiated narrative produced by Mr Gilligan fails to recognise the efforts of the community and the Council to engage all of our residents in local democracy. It did not acknowledge that, far from serving only some sections of the community, our priorities are the elderly, the young, those living in over-crowded conditions, carers - all those who need help and support, irrespective of their personal views.Our You Decide! programme, now in its second year, allocated £4.76 million to local people across the borough who chose how the money should be spent. Grants in the borough are subject to rigorous external audit and scrutiny and we have yet to see any evidence of the 'wrongdoing' in this area implied by Mr Gilligan.Far from shifting our grant-giving to fund only 'non-secular ' groups, we fund over a hundred local groups covering all aspects of social welfare. These groups provide valued and diverse services, and are run by people from all sections of the community, who believe that Tower Hamlets is a place where people of different faiths, political views, and cultures can and do live and work together. We have not given the East London Mosque £10 million of funding, and we and refute any unfounded allegations against council officers unreservedly.Tower Hamlets Council is not oblivious to the make-up of its communities and the tensions which can arise in response to the kind of allegations made in monday night's programme. Nor are we complacent about the kinds of activities we acknowledge would concern our residents were they proven to be accurate. We have made huge efforts to pull Tower Hamlets away from a position where those who might seek to divide our community are able to find support. We hope that Mr Gilligan's efforts do not assist those who would take us back there. "
Jon Hardy ● 5344d1 Comments