Letters, contributions and comments sent in to the Advertiser this week.

Cost of cleaning borough

John Biggs, Tower Hamlets mayor, writes:

We spend £6.9m a year cleaning our streets and on average, we provide more cleans per week than neighbouring boroughs.

Yet litter remains a key issue for the borough.

At a time of continued cuts to our funding, we will be able to save public money for other things if less litter is dropped and dumped, and waste is recycled or reduced.

We support residents and businesses to do this through our Love Your Neighbourhood campaign and this summer we will be consulting with people on a new waste strategy to do more together.

The Big Clean Ups we do every eight weeks are in addition to the money we spend on cleaning. They are voluntary clean up weeks where we ask organisations in Tower Hamlets to take part, and give our staff and residents the opportunity to take part should they want to.

Since we started them last summer, around 10 different organisations have dedicated over 20 free voluntary hours to clean up parts of the borough. They have cleaned up 15 areas suggested by residents for extra TLC.

It is great to see these people and organisations taking pride in improving their area. That is one way that we can change behaviour.

Contribution of Windrush generation

Unmesh Desai AM, City and East, writes:

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the docking of the MV Windrush at Tilbury, and the disembarking of 492 Caribbean men and women to start life in the UK.

The next 23 years saw a generation of Commonwealth citizens take the leap and decide to settle here, with many becoming an integral and invaluable part of our community in Tower Hamlets.

So, at a time when we should be celebrating the huge contribution that the Windrush Generation has made to our society, there has instead been widespread outrage towards their treatment at the hands of the Home Office, under their ‘hostile environment’ policy.

The government’s mishandling of immigration paperwork has led to shocking cases of deportations, and Londoners left suddenly and unaccountably destitute. It was only after a series of chilling personal testimonies were made public that the government finally decided to apologise for their actions.

During these anniversary celebrations, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with the Windrush Generation and pay tribute to how they have helped to build our country.