The Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, agreed to allow officers to sign the funding agreement for the new Wood Wharf School at Canary Wharf. The meeting also discussed an update on the implementation of Awaab's Law, which requires landlords to ensure properties are free from damp and mould.

Wood Wharf School

The Mayor agreed to a recommendation to delegate authority to the Director of Children's Services in consultation with the Executive Mayor for Children, Schools and Young People, and the Director of Finance and Commercial to enter into a Funding Agreement with the Education and Skills Funding Agency for the new Wood Wharf Church of England school.

The school will provide 420 primary and 150 nursery places for the new Wood Wharf development in Canary Wharf. The new school will be run by the Diocese of London, which already runs four other schools in the borough.

The report presented to the Mayor explained that the new school would help to ensure sufficient school places for the borough's growing population. Councillor Andrew Wood asked whether the projections for school places took account of the likely impact of the cost of living crisis, asking

are we likely to see families moving out of London? Or are we likely to see more families needing school places because of things like relationship breakdown?

Jo Moxon, the Director of Children's Services, said that the projections took account of a range of factors, including birth rates, migration, and housing development and that they had been reviewed following the start of the cost of living crisis.

Housing

The meeting received a report on the implementation of Awaab's Law.

Awaab's law¹ was introduced following the death of two-year old Awaab Ishak from a respiratory condition caused by mould in his home in Rochdale.

The report noted that Tower Hamlets Homes, the council's arms-length management organisation which manages council homes in the borough, had written to all residents to remind them of their rights and responsibilities.

Councillor Kabir Ahmed, the Cabinet Member for said that the council was committed to ensuring that all residents had a safe and secure home and asked officers to ensure that all complaints about damp and mould were dealt with promptly and effectively. He said:

I want to be reassured that we are doing everything we can to prevent another tragedy like the death of Awaab Ishak.