Glanville resigns as Hackney mayor over ‘error of judgement’

Hackney Council is to hold a mayoral by-election to replace Philip Glanville, who has resigned from the post after being associated with a disgraced former councillor. 

In August Tom Dewey, a former Labour councillor at Hackney, was given a one-year suspended sentence after admitting five charges of possessing indecent images of children.

Last month it emerged that Philip Glanville was photographed with Dewey hours after he had been informed of his arrest. Glanville had previously said he did not see Dewey after learning of the arrest.

Glanville has been at the forefront of the roil-out of  Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, School Streets and Controlled Parking Zones in Hackney.

In 2021 he told LTT: “A Low Traffic Neighbourhood won’t work without School Streets, or without CPZs and changes to the urban environment.

“And you can’t just have a School Street without some of the other interventions we’ve made over many decades. Otherwise, you’d find a hostile environment to walking and cycling, where the car is again dominant, the second you move beyond that School Street environment.” 

Hackney’s Interim chief executive Dawn Carter-McDonald thanked Glanville for his “seven years of service as mayor and the 17 years he has given to the borough and its residents as an elected politician”. 

The mayoral by-election will take place on 9 November.

In his letter of resignation, Glanville said: “As I previously made clear I had my trust betrayed, but in turn I made an error of judgement and was not as transparent as I should have been. For that I accept full responsibility.”

Glanville said that, as mayor, he did “what needed to be done to safeguard children and to allow the council to do its job without fear or favour”.

He added: “Politics is never easy, but it has been a privilege to work with, and for, some of the very best of local government for the best part of 17 years.” He praised the people of Hackney; “you and the organisations and businesses here are at the heart of why I chose to make Hackney my home and why this role meant so much to me.

“Keep standing up for your open, diverse values, keep challenging those who put themselves forward to lead and keep making this the very best borough in London.”