| AdminHistory | In 1973 the Greater London Council (GLC) announced an 'action programme for deprived areas', and the following year an Urban Deprivation Unit was established in the Home Office. Officials from the newly established Unit along with the representatives from the GLC discussed the possibility of a common approach toward tackling the problems of urban deprivation in London. The GLC had identified 150 areas of deprivation across 22 London Boroughs, and decided to start pilot projects in small areas in Islington, Tower Hamlets, Camden and Brent. In May 1974 it was decided following a meeting of GLC representatives with the Home Secretary that work would begin in the two areas where negotiations were most advanced; the Henley Road area, Islington, and Spitalfields in Tower Hamlets. The aim of the project was to use two demonstration areas in order to learn how to establish a programme of action to tackle deprivation across London; the lessons and successes of which could then be applied in other areas. The Project intended the work in two ways, firstly through better coordination of relevant organisations and programmes already active within the areas, and secondly through the provision of additional funding. The emphasis of the project was to be on action accompanied by a programme of research and monitoring by the GLC, which would act as the co-ordinating authority.
Annual funding of £125,000 was agreed for a period of five years (ending in March 1980); 75% of which was provided by the Home Office's Urban Deprivation Unit (later the Department of Environment (DoE)), with the remaining 25% to be local authority contributions split between the GLC and London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH). As it transpired, LBTH were only able to contribute a small amount each year for specific schemes, and so the GLC were the main providers of local authority contribution. In 1974 funding was agreed, and the project was to run from April 1975 until March 1980.
The Spitalfields Project was divided into two phases, the first being the initial five year funding period (1975-1980), an interim period in which the Project recieved annual funding (1980-1982) and a second five year funding period (1982-1987). sawqwaa
Administratively, the first phase of the Project had a two tier structure comprised of the Steering Group (the executive, decision making, committee) and the Consultative Committee, which obtained input from the community and considered proposals before they went to the Steering Group. Decisions on spending items were then passed to the Policy Committee of the GLC, and DoE for final agreement. LBTH delegated the authority to the chairperson of the Steering Group.
Due to the continuing need in the area, agreement was reached in September 1979 between the Leader of Tower Hamlets Borough Council and the Deputy Leader of the GLC to continue and develop the initiatives in Spitalfields, which was also adopted by Tower Hamlets Borough Council. It was proposed that a local committee with its own funds should continue in place of the Steering Group, and funding was secured for the Spitalfields Project 1980-1981 for both ongoing schemes and a budget for the newly established Spitalfields Local Committee (SLC). Following this interim period of annual funding, funds were secured to undertake a new five year programme of work commencing on 1 April 1982.
As with the first phase, 75% of funding came from central government, now from the DoE, and the remaining 25% local authority contribution. Within the demise of the GLC in 1986, LBTH agreed to take up their former contribution for the final year of the project (1987). The funding for economic, environmental, social and housing projects had to be approved by the DoE and was shared between projects sponsored by LBTH, ILEA and Tower Hamlets Health Authority (DHA).
Administratively, the Spitalfields Project Steering Group and Consultative Committee were succeeded in the second phase of the Project by the SLC. This change in adminstration saw a move away from the close relationship with central government and the GLC, to a Local Committee which was a voluntary organisation in its own right, with its own legal identity. The SLC was more closely aligned to LBTH, and had the power to report to the Chief Executive of LBTH council in matters for consideration by other council departments.
The idea for the SLC was to provide both the means for the representatives of local groups and councillors to cooperate, define problems and propose programmes of action and schemes, and to encourage and seek the input of relevant local and statutory authorities to also give help to schemes in the programme. The SLC was created in 1980 and was a voluntary organisation in its own right and with its own legal identity. It did, however, have the right to report to the Chief Executive of the LBTH on matters that should be considered by the various council committees. It also worked closely with the local authority and was jointly serviced by both Project workers and the LBTH Secretariat. The SLC had a constitution drawn up jointly with the council and the GLC, and was allocated funds to spend on a programme of small grants to various local organisations for projects. It sought no longer to act as a grant giving body, as the first phase of the project's Steering Group had, but instead as a local voluntary organisation in its own right expending its resources on an agreed programme of work and activities. The objectives of the SLC were 'co-operating with the relevant authorities in the improvement of the environment and other conditions affecting the quality of life of the residents of the ward'. |