A new lido for Victoria Park and free TfL travel passes for low income students are part of an independent party’s plan to retain control of Tower Hamlets council.
The borough’s ruling Aspire party, backed by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, released its manifesto on Wednesday ahead of the local elections.
In a series of big spend plans, executive mayor Lutfur Rahman pledged that the local authority would become the first in the country to introduce free travel for students from low income families if his party won on May 7.
Tube, overground and bus costs would be covered for young people starting university or college in proposals Mr Rahman said were partly inspired by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pledge to scrap bus fares.
TfL travel is currently only free for children aged 16 and under.
Aspire also pledged to build an outdoor swimming pool in Victoria Park.
The council has already introduced free swimming for families, all women residents aged 16 and over and men aged 35 and over.
Victoria Park was previously home to the largest modern lido in London. After opening in 1936 it became known as the "gem" of the East End.
It closed in 1990, three years after sustaining damage in the great storm of 1987, and was replaced with a car park.
An Aspire spokesman told the Standard that the party will “conduct a review all of the options to ensure the best place in the park was chosen” for the new pool.
Lutfur Rahman, the incumbent executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, said: “My mission has been clear: to make Tower Hamlets work for everyone. After years of damaging austerity under Labour, we reversed their cuts and delivered unprecedented investment in frontline services - £250million over six years.”
Mr Rahman remains a controversial figure in London politics having won back control of Tower Hamlets in 2022 after serving a five year election ban.
Ministers formally intervened in the East London authority last year, sending in envoys, when a damning report raised concerns about a “toxic” political culture under elected mayor Lutfur Rahman.
Local Government Secretary Steve Reed launched a series of “probes” into “patronage” at the council over jobs, staff promotions, activities of the mayor’s office, housing, planning and licensing decisions.
But Aspire questioned the timing of the announcement shortly before the local elections.
The party said it has set in place a raft of socialist policies to benefit residents when other London councils are making cuts, including universal free home care for all elderly and disabled people and school uniform grants for poorer families.
Further plans include pregnancy payment support for parents on low incomes to help with the costs of raising a newborn baby and launching lunch clubs for the elderly.
Mr Rahman said: “We have made history with groundbreaking policies to provide more cost of living support to residents than any other local authority, while also leading the way in tackling London’s housing emergency, building thousands of affordable and social homes for rent and investing to upgrade existing council homes.
“Our new manifesto goes further still, from pledging to make Tower Hamlets the first council in the country to fund free travel for students from low income families, so no student is held back from education by the cost of travelling, to introducing a Tower Hamlets Pregnancy Payment to help with the cost of raising a newborn baby.
“We are giving our young people the best start in life, supporting residents at every stage from cradle to old age, and delivering the decent, genuinely affordable homes people deserve, because a secure home is a right, not a privilege.
“I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the past four years, and determined to go further - building a fairer, stronger future for everyone in Tower Hamlets.”
A London Labour spokesman said: “Aspire’s promises never survive contact with reality.
“Tower Hamlets residents have heard it all before. Like so many things they announce, it simply never happens.
“They promise big, spend badly, break pledges, and fail to deliver. After three years of council tax rises, government intervention, toxic governance findings and basic services under pressure, Aspire’s problem isn’t ambition. It’s failure.”
