The recent vote at Tower Hamlets Council on the Neighbourhood Plan for Brick Lane highlighted heated opinions on the future of Brick Lane. Is a clash inevitable, or is there a consensus way forward?

Welcome to another day at Tower Hamlets Council

“And was Jerusalem builded here,

Among these dark Satanic Mills?”

William Blake – Jerusalem

In the follow-up to a vote on the Spitalfields and Banglatown Neighbourhood Plan (NP) social media was ablaze with accusations and counter-accusations on the motives behind the NP. A well-produced video was produced, accusing the NP of being a thin wedge of a ‘Neocolonialist plot’. The video was posted a day before the monthly meeting of the Tower Hamlets Labour Group. The video was led by a member of the Wapping Labour Party.

The NP was signed off by the examiner and council officers for having exemplary and proactive consultation in reaching hard-to-reach demographics in the area, with TELCO assisting in the consultation with hundreds of responses from residents from left-behind demographics. Despite the facts on the ground, I was forwarded an email, where the Chair of the Tower Hamlets Labour Group stated that they have decided to vote down the NP due to the video. Coincidence?

Instead of dwelling on the divisive politics of the past few days, I want to explore the underlying reasons for the heated debate over the future of Brick Lane and a possible way forward.

Brick Lane: Axis Mundi – Centre of the East End Universe #Endz

“And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England’s mountains green:”

William Blake – Jerusalem

The Romanian religious historian, Mircea Eliade, first coined the modern meaning of the term, ‘axis mundi’, the navel of the earth. A physical space that represents a place of origin or centre of the world, a place that is sacred above all. A good example is the city of Jerusalem, representing an axis mundi for the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Brick Lane represents, a secular axis mundi, for the modern East End. A place of origin for each community and demographic that makes up the modern East End. For the heritage groups, it represents the Georgian Town Houses that housed the Huguenot Communities. The Jewish community the bagel shops, Petty Coat Lane market and the Museum of Immigration. For the cockney communities, it is a place you have the market in and around Brick Lane, the sellers have changed but the customers have not, a source of cheap goods and healthy food. For the Bangladeshi community, it is the place of political activism, starting with protests against the National Front and the Curry Houses. In the artistic community, it represents street art and cutting-edge public art.

The name Brick Lane derives from the fact that it was a place for all the merchant guilds, such as tanners and brick makers, activities placed east of the City of London. Placed there to take advantage of the prevailing westerly winds. A safe haven for those who have no access to the gilded halls within the City.

Each community and its axis mundi origin story is part of a broader story arc going back a thousand years to mediaeval times. Brick Lane and the wider East End have always been a place for marginalised communities, within and from outside England, to make a new beginning. Starting from refugees from Normandy in the wake of the 100 years war to the present day, each community enriches and preserves this marginal space, holding it in trust for future generations. This can be seen today, where the Whitechapel market, speaking to refugee charities, is the place for support networks for the refugee communities of today.

“Bring me my Bow of burning gold:

Bring me my arrows of desire”

William Blake – Jerusalem

It is with this spirit I and other campaigners have carried forward with the #SAVEBRICKLANE campaign. Therefore, any proposed master plan for the area must incorporate this 1000-year arc of Brick Lane as a space for the marginalised to carry out marginal economic activities. A place of new beginnings, not just for communities but individuals who come to it as a haven of economic and cultural opportunities.

“Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!

Bring me my Chariot of fire!”

William Blake – Jerusalem

A story of a thousand faces

“I will not cease from Mental Fight,

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:”

William Blake – Jerusalem

The anthropologist, Joseph Campbell in his seminal work, ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ describes the cycle of the epic quest or the ‘hero’s journey’. It describes the stage, where the hero has to face death and overcome it, or a dark night of the soul. That night at the Council chamber, the #SAVEBRICKLANE campaign had its dark night and overcame it.

A dark night in a council chamber witnessed race-baiting and divisive speeches, more Georgia Meloni than George Lansbury. Added to this spectacle, we had a Tory councillor accusing Labour Councillors of being in the pay of millionaire developers and planning lobbyists with close links to the Tower Hamlets Labour Party. He went on to inform the stunned crowd, that the Crown Prosecution Service has signed off on an open investigation with the Metropolitan Police. 

Defending the truth of an inclusive East End, against race-baiting divisive politics. As GK Chesterton wrote, the truth turns into dogma the instant they are disputed. He went on to say we shall be left defending, not only the incredible virtues and sanities of human life, but the world we see and inhabit. It is a continuous fight, but as the history of the East End has shown, a fight that can be won. A fight that is part of the wider arc of the moral universe that is the #Endz, eventually bending towards justice.

“Till we have built Jerusalem,

In England’s green & pleasant Land.”

William Blake – Jerusalem

Post Script: Reaction video to the Council Vote

My reasons for supporting the Spitalfields and Banglatown Neighbourhood Plan:

Want to Save Brick Lane? Then Now Support the Plan.

Tower Hamlets Council is deciding whether to adopt the “Spitalfields and Banglatown Neighbourhood Plan”. With the current Cost of Living Crisis, why should it be adopted and supported by all. In summary:

🌟 Current Council policies in the area, have failed.

🌟 Leading to increasing rents, pushing residents & small businesses from the area.

🌟 The adoption of the plan will result in a cap on speculative land prices.

🌟 Keeping rents & land prices low, keeping developers out and keeping small independent businesses in the area.

The threats of violence by those allegedly advocating for the Truman Brewery need to be addressed and responded to. There is no place for thuggery in the body politics of Tower Hamlets.

The current Cost of Living Crisis and projected economic recession will show that 40 years of short-term, speculative finance-led economic regeneration has failed. Economic inequalities have risen, and it has no answers for businesses and residents in the area. Many are projected to go out of business and fall into the vicious cycle of poverty and debt due to the Cost of Living Crisis.

An alternative approach is not only possible but also necessary. The adoption of the neighbourhood plan is the first step in a Community Wealth Building Approach that benefits all, not just a select few. The threats of violence by those allegedly advocating for the Truman Brewery need to be addressed and responded to. There is no place for thuggery in the body politics of Tower Hamlets.