Friday, May 17, 2013

Newham Council AGM 2013

Last night (Thursday 16 May) was the Annual General Meeting of Newham Council, held in the main hall of the historic Old Town Hall in Stratford, Newham.

This is an important formal civic meeting. The Chair and Deputy Chair of Council is elected, Committee and Executive arrangements are announced while the Overview & Scrutiny and Audit reports are published.

At the beginning pupils from Selwyn Primary school had entertained guests with music (who had learnt to play under the Council "Every Child A Musician" programme"). 

The Newham Mayor, Sir Robins Wales then thanked the retiring Council head of regeneration, Clive Dutton and the 2012 Newham Young Mayor, Abraham Male.

Robin in his speech attacked the savage government cuts  that have affected our residents far more than the wealthy parts of London. The bedroom tax targets the poorest members of our society.
While millionaires nationally get a tax cut, government policies will see £13 million taken out of Newham people’s pockets in this financial year against the backdrop of a cut of a third of the Council’s budget over the last three years.

Robin believes that we must build resilience amongst Newham Residents not only to off set the cuts but to build a local society that is self reliant and more resilient. Check out his speech to the AGM here.

After the meeting there was a reception in the former West Ham Council chamber on the ground floor of the old Town Hall.

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