Landry Adelard, 16, has been elected as the new Young Mayor of Tower Hamlets with a commitment to try and reduce crime in the area.
“My main priority is to reduce crime rates in Tower Hamlets,” he said after his election. “As we all know, these past two months we’ve lost two young people in Tower Hamlets over knife crime, and as soon as I start working I want to go on to that and just finish it, totally.”
The results of the election were announced on Wednesday 21st January in the council chamber of Tower Hamlets Town Hall. Landry, from Bow, was overjoyed with his success. As he said in his own words: “I feel so relieved, thank you so much for voting for me.” The fact that he already knows what he wants to accomplish shows how determined he is.
The event was attended by members of council, and families of the candidates were there to support. But the majority of the people there were young people. There were not enough seats in the council chamber or in the room next door for everyone.
The atmosphere was so lively, which shows that young people really care about who will represent them. In total 8,500 young people voted. This is a record turnout of 50% which also shows how important young people in Tower Hamlets think this is.
There was so much tension throughout the rooms, with the audience waiting anxiously to find out who was the winner. It wasn’t long before all the candidates rolled up to find out the results and if they had been successful. Even those who had not won were handed a certificate and a badge to show their commitment for our borough.
The outgoing young mayor Uma Ahkter said that she was going to miss the job even though she said it was hard and she had gotten criticism. She had this advice for Landry, “When I was criticised I saw past it and one thing I think I’ve learnt is that no matter what you do and no matter how well you’re doing something you’re gonna get criticism. You’ve just got to keep going and not give up”.
Landry won’t have to do all this alone. He will be supported by a team of seven Deputy Young Mayors, made up from the other candidates. Tahmina Begum, 16, is the only female Deputy Mayor. She was optimistic about how as a team they will be able to achieve their policies. “Well there’s 8 of us, so there is 24 policies. There’s a year for this so hopefully we can do all of them.”
About this story
This article was written by Lena Wasman, 15, and Shamima Khan, 14.
