Hello Everyone,
I’m proud to be from Newham, the place I have lived all my life and the place that I love. I love the amazing diversity of our communities and I feel really privileged that Newham is my home. Our people are our greatest strength as is the diversity that represents literally every part of the world! That’s why throughout all my life, I have been an advocate for multiculturalism and promote dialogue and bringing people together from across all faiths and cultures based on mutual respect to promote learning, deepen respect and develop an inclusive sense of Britishness, which is a constant hot topic in the news. Sadly, polarising forces the world over have been on the rise creating fault lines amongst people here in the UK and across the world. Racism remains rife as does misogyny and we hear often how these impact communities of colour and women who are brave to give voice to the discrimination and inequities impacting their human rights. Religious hate is seeding poison against people of faith; and transphobia has become the new frontline of abuse against the LGBTQ+ community globally. The demonising of immigrants and refugees have been potent ingredients causing division and hate. To counter this, we need to build inclusivity amongst people and this purpose is significant for Newham. We are a borough that is defined by our flourishing multi-ethnic and cultural diversity in our people - who are our most precious assets. That’s why I strive to embed a culture of inclusion at the Council and among all our people as we promote inclusive belonging as a core value and objective in the work we do to build a fairer Newham. The fact that we have ‘the world in one borough’ is our opportunity for Newham to be the practical pioneer in achieving an inclusive sense of belonging in our corner of the most diverse global capital city in the world. We are a national beacon for how best to champion diversity and inclusion to counter some of the danger and division that has emerged in our country in recent years – most recently the riots last summer and the anti-Muslim hate experienced by a Mosque in Newham last week. Above all, it offers us the opportunity to proactively embed inclusivity and equality into the way the Council operates, including in our approaches to service delivery as we advance our ambition of Building a Fairer Newham for everyone. Back in 2022, I announced my intention to establish a Commission on Inclusive Newham. I was pleased to follow this announcement with confirmation that Sunder Katwala, the nationally recognised Director of British Future, was going to lead the Commission as independent Chair. The work of the Commission will build on the agenda we are advancing as an administration to challenge all forms of hate, including homophobic hate and transphobia, antisemitism, anti-Black racism, Islamophobia, misogyny and the discrimination that those with disabilities face. I want Newham Council and other public service providers to provide inclusive and accessible services that meet the needs of all our residents. So I am pleased to update you that Sunder Katwala, as the independent Chair, is kick-starting the important work of the Commission. He’ll be leading a group of experts and local residents to look at what the council and our partners can do better, so that everyone in Newham are served in the most inclusive way and through this we can show how Newham has a Council that delivers services that meet their needs equitably. If you’re interested in being part of the commission, and want to bring your own local experience - perhaps experience of working with local voluntary, community or faith groups – you can find out more and how to apply here. This week I was really pleased to join businesses from across the borough at an event organised by the Newham Chamber of Commerce at the University of East London’s Centre for Sustainability to talk to them about our draft Budget proposals for 2025/26. I spoke about the immediate financial challenge the council faces, but also how we are transforming our services to make them more efficient and cost-effective. We will be discussing our transformation progress at our Cabinet meeting next Tuesday. You can read more about some of the key issues that will be discussed and decided on at Cabinet further down in this week’s e-bulletin. As part of the financial update that Cabinet will review next week, we have identified £79.4m in savings - far more than our £44.7m budget gap for this year. This gap would have been significantly lower if we excluded the costs of a 10% increase in temporary accommodation provision last year; a rise that we have taken effective steps to slow down. As a financially responsible Council, we would have been able to balance our budget last year and this year without this increase caused by the growing temporary accommodation costs. As I have written before, we are one of a number of councils to request Exceptional Financial Support from the Government, and as part of this have had to make the decision to propose raising council tax by nearly 10%, but our council tax levels would still be the seventh lowest in London – adding an additional £2.40 to a Band D property per week. No final decisions will be made until our Full Council meeting on 27 February. In the meantime, we continue to engage with groups across the borough to gather feedback on our plans. But let me assure you that the Council’s core purpose remains Building a Fairer Newham, and we will continue delivering services that make a difference to our residents, and our borough, such as: · Education: Newham’s educational achievements are highly ranked. Our SATs results for Year Six pupils are the fourth highest in England, and our GCSE students rank 21st nationally. We will invest in additional places for children with special educational needs and continue our Eat for Free programme, ensuring 10,254 primary school children receive a healthy free school meal every day and saving £500 per child for parents each year. · Environment: we are committed to making the borough greener and improving air quality. By the end of next year, we will have rolled out 1,260 EV charging points across Newham. · Tackling Fly-Tipping: fly-tipping in Newham has decreased by 11% at the mid-point of this year - bucking the trend across London, where incidents are increasing. Yesterday, the Council’s environment team won the Keep Britain Tidy coveted ‘Team of the Year Award’ 2025. The team are chuffed and so am I! · Housing & Homelessness Prevention: as we continue our ambitious programme of building more genuinely affordable homes and buying newly built properties to house people on our waiting list, we are also addressing the root causes of homelessness. We are using AI and new technology, developed in partnership with the University of East London, to match people with properties more effectively and streamline routine work - allowing us to focus on solving real issues. We are also taking part in a major Government-funded pilot to identify those most at risk of homelessness and intervene early. Next week, we’ll be celebrating for a third year the dynamism and diversity of our borough through our popular Newham Civic Awards. It will be a wonderful occasion to recognise and honour all those local people and organisations across our diverse neighbourhoods who exemplify the very best of who we are. A thrilling 317 nominations were submitted, providing a spotlight on the heroic demonstrations of kindness, dedication and passion by selfless individuals who contribute so much to our diverse communities. My deepest gratitude to all the nominees who contribute to our borough in such dynamic, vibrant and special ways. Their commitment is what makes Newham so great: a borough full of people who are purposeful and motivated by selfless civic duty for the public good. The Newham Civic Awards are a reminder of all those acts of kindness and generosity that take place in our communities every single day, nurture – and I urge everyone reading this to get involved and keep it up! It’s the power of our people that makes Newham the wonderful place to be. Finally, as a demonstration of our inclusion and diversity in the borough, this weekend we will be marking the start of LGBT+ History Month, an exciting month-long programme celebrating activism, stories, and creativity – you can find out more about what’s planned at www.newhamlgbthistory.org. Please do come along and join us as we raise the Progress Pride Flag at East Ham Town Hall tomorrow (Saturday 1 February) between 12:00 and 1:30 pm.
Best wishes,
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE Follow what I am up to via X/Twitter: @rokhsanafiaz | 
