Quit posh Docklands offices, Tower Hamlets Tories tell Labour

TORIES in London’s deprived East End are calling for the local authority to quit its expensive offices near Canary Wharf. Opposition councillors want Tower Hamlets to move out of the prestigious Anchorage House in Blackwall, next to the Town Hall, and shift staff back into disused buildings to cut costs

By Mike Brooke

TORIES in London’s deprived East End are calling for the local authority to quit its expensive offices near Canary Wharf.

Opposition councillors want Tower Hamlets to move out of the prestigious Anchorage House in Blackwall, next to the Town Hall, and shift staff back into disused buildings to cut costs and save frontline services.

They are calling for other efficiency savings to bridge a �50 million deficit, in response to Labour fears that the new Cameron Government at Westminster would impose drastic cuts in the East End.

“We have a deficit that’s growing bigger than anywhere else,” re-elected Opposition councillor Tim Archer told the East London Advertiser.

“We don’t need Anchorage House. It is costing council taxpayers �8m a year to rent, including two empty floors, when we have so many disused buildings we own.”

He was responding to fears expressed by Labour’s new council leader that the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government would swing the axe on the East End.

“Cameron said all along we don’t want cuts to frontline services,” Archer added. “We want to protect the vulnerable, those who least can afford to pay to be least affected.”

The small Tower Hamlets Opposition group is calling for more efficiency and “use the money where it’s needed.”