A petition for the East End of London to become a city in its own right like the ancient Square Mile next door has been handed in to 10 Downing Street today.
Tower Hamlets has applied for ‘city’ status as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee next year, but up against competition from Reading, Middlesbrough and Blackpool.
The petition to the Queen was signed by the Mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman at yesterday’s campaign launch held appropriately at the Tower of London, the iconic royal palace sitting neatly within the boundary of the borough named after it.
Youngsters from Harbinger Primary School on the Isle of Dogs were invited to the launch, having written their own letters of support.
The Tower raised a flag with the council’s logo supporting the move. Crucially the bid is also backed by the neighbouring Corporation of London, while Canary Wharf Group has put in �10,000 match-funding to help the campaign.
Tower Hamlets historically is a collection of hamlets, parishes, municipalities and liberties within three miles of The Tower, known collectively as the ‘Tower’ hamlets.
It emerged in the 1965 Greater London reorganisation to become the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, stretching from The Tower to the Isle of Dogs and including the newly-emerging Canary Wharf.
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