At last the East London Advertiser today can reveal the dirt that Tower Hamlets politicians have been involved in this week.

East London Advertiser: Council volunteers in east London getting the trash off streets in Poplar. Picture: Kois MiahCouncil volunteers in east London getting the trash off streets in Poplar. Picture: Kois Miah (Image: Kois Miah)

One front-bench councillor has been making a clean sweep of it following demands from council taxpayers.

The council’s lead member for strategic development, Rachel Blake, was involved with council staff volunteers and contractors in Poplar yesterday, a town hall insider has confirmed.

She was seen tackling graffiti and rubbish on a patch of ground in Cotton Street, off the main A13 East India Dock Road.

“We collected 17 sacks of rubbish in little over an hour,” Cllr Blake admitted in an email seen by the paper. “But there shouldn’t be this much rubbish on our streets.

East London Advertiser: All smiles as Cllr Rachel Blake [far right] and volunteers bag up rubbish they found in Poplar. Picture: Kois MiahAll smiles as Cllr Rachel Blake [far right] and volunteers bag up rubbish they found in Poplar. Picture: Kois Miah (Image: Kois Miah)

“We always collect rubbish and recycle waste, clean graffiti and make areas look better—but it’s everyone’s responsibility to keep our borough clean.”

A ‘big clean up’ week was started by Tower Hamlets mayor John Biggs, who came to office in 2015 on a mandate to sweep up town hall politics after the Lutfur Rahman years. Now he is switching attention outside the town hall after a public survey found council taxpayers put cleaning up the streets a priority for his administration.

The volunteers have been busy since Monday picking up litter and cleaning off graffiti as part of the council’s ‘love your neighbourhood’ campaign, with another clean-up likely in December, we can reveal.