my two babies

In summer 2014 I brought two babies into the world and over the following year I plan to give birth to five more babies but I need your help to do it

The first baby was the Facebook group "Canary Wharf & Isle of Dogs Residents"  which was born on the 29th June 2014. I started it because many of my residents live in towers that I cannot access, so how do I talk to them as their elected Councillor and more importantly how do they talk to each other? This is the only place where many people (but obviously not all) can communicate with each other about issues, lost cats, recommendations, naked men & dog poo :) With over 11,000 members it will continue to grow and my main role now is a bit like being a gardener. I pull out the weeds, put some fertiliser down and check that people entering the garden are the right people to come in.

I cannot count how many posts I have made in the last 4 years but recently FB said my FB Friends had liked my posts 40,000 times. But on my main email account cllrandrewwood@gmail I have received 17,472 emails and sent 4,536 emails in 4 years (I also have 3 other email accounts with even more emails)

Not forgetting this website

But I was surprised by how little my fellow Councillors communicated by comparison with the exception of Peter Golds. There are 9 Councillors in the core area covered by this group (Limehouse, Poplar, CW, Island Gardens, Blackwall & Cubitt Town) do you know who they are? outside of the election period how much work have they done?

Some have done a good job at the Town Hall but you need Councillors who will do both jobs, the Town Hall job and the local job of working with & for residents.
I also try to communicate on Twitter at @andrewwood17, Streetlife and now Nextdoor. There are 7,000 plus homes in Canary Wharf ward with over 9,000 voters but maybe only around 2,000 doors can you easily knock on which is why I spend so much time on social media but am also door knocking where I can

The 2nd baby born in summer 2014 was the Isle of Dogs Neghbourhood Planning Forum. It is a non-party poliitical resident led group and its membership includes Lib Dems, Greens, Marxists, Conservatives etc etc. Labour party members & candidates are in it as well and are also on the Committee and have made important contributions especially on estate regeneration policy

But over the last 4 years I have done the majority of the work, first setting up the Forum, doing its Comms (except during election periods), gathering the evidence, setting up meetings and talking to stakeholders.
But I have done so as a resident not as a Conservative Councillor regardless of what others think (but being a Councillor does help open doors) and will continue that work regardless of the election outcome
Only by changing planning policy can residents influence what is happening. It has more power then many people realise, you can get a feel for the scale of work by looking at the Councils website
www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/planning_and_building_control/planning_policy_guidance/neighbourhood_planning/Isle_of_Dogs.aspx


I have chosen or need to be non-party political for the following reasons:
One - I hate the tribalism of British politics. I am half-German and I naturally prefer a more consensual style of politics
Two - I know many of you are put off by UK party politics (sensible people)
Three - some people really do hate people from other parties, I don't, democracy is about choice and the role of policians like me is to provide you with choices at election time
Four - both the Forum and Facebook work better if party politics are left outside of it

So you wont have seen from me posts extolling my party or saying how crap the other party is (although I have been critical of the Council, they are not yet good enough and my job is in part to hold them to account). As you may have noticed my party, the Conservatives are not doing very well right now at a national level but I could say the same about the Labour party as well but these are local elections on local issues (even if you are voting on national issues that does not change the job of a Councillor). All the parties in this election have good candidates and some not so good candidates (and a few who should not be re-elected), it is your job now to sort out which ones are which :)

These are the 5 things I want to do - the new babies I refer to
1. Set up a new Neighbourhood Planning Forum for the northern Isle of Dogs. In April 2016 the Council removed the northern part of the original area that residents voted on in November 2014. I should have done this sooner but have been too busy.
2. Re-start the Police Safer Neighbourhood ward panel, I brought the ward panel back into Canary Wharf ward when i got it restarted at Alpha Grove Community Centre but it has lapsed again (I am not allowed to Chair it) but I have helped the Limehouse Ward Panel expertly led by Conor and know what a difference a good ward panel can make
3. Set up a website as the mirror image of this FB group but to make it easier to find information. I tried to do this last year but again ran out of time to finish it
4. Try and get the Council to improve the security of the area by setting up Public Space Protections Orders like was done around Ropemakers. I was the 1st person to mention PSPO's there. Also introduce physical secuity measures like CCTV (we have no Council CCTV cameras in any residential area of CW ward) better lighting, anti-moped gates etc using the £169 million of funds from developers and the government sitting in the Council bank account 
5. Last but not least ask you if you want to set up a Town (Parish) Council for the Isle of Dogs. It would be a new lower level of local government, with its own powers, budget and staff (TH Council would stll be responsible for 95% of what it does but purely local stuff could be managed locally)

I do not think TH Council does a good job of managing the island, they are too big, too remote, do not know the area and have too many false assumptions about the area. I think a Town Council run locally by local people could restore some power back to the island and provide better services.

I grew up in Singapore and have seen what effective government looks like (which is why John Biggs jokes with me that I am really a member of the Peoples Action Party of Singapore) and except for their policies on democracy and capital punishment there is some truth in that

Plus many other things I want to do but this post is long enough

But I need your help now to do all of this. 

If you want me to do these things and to continue the work I have already done then re-elect me on the 3rd May. But my workload is enormous and I am currently failing to keep on top of everything (& being a Cllr is meant to be a part time job!)
So I really need help, so please, please elect Councillors who will do the work & also communicate with you elsewhere regardless of which party they belong to. But in my ward elect Tom Randall to help me. He does a lot of work locally behind the scenes to help me to do my work.

Some of these things I can do & will do if I do not get elected (ironically not being re-elected would give me more time :)) but on balance being a Councillor would make my work easier and I wont be able to help people as much if I am not a Councillor 

So it is up to you now
1. Vote - even if it is not for me - turnouts on the IoD are too low compared to others areas in TH - if you are a Commonwealth or EU citizen you can vote as well
2. Tell your friends & neighbours who you are voting for especially those not on social media - in 2014 I got elected because a local Marxist told people to vote locally for Conservatives because we do the work
3. If you want me to be re-elected and to give birth to those 5 babies then please share this message on FB or by email
And for members of other parties who will inevitably object to this post, perhaps your party should have tried harder to communicate with residents over the last four years by setting up your own FB groups or getting involved in this one but you are welcome to add to this post what you will do

PS this is what I look like when I do the majority of my work, drinking tea on a sofa, looking at my laptop, looking a mess