The leader of Barking & Dagenham Council is to step down in September after more than ten years at the head of the east London borough.
In an email giving his fellow Labour councillors the news, Darren Rodwell said he plans to “change direction”, consider “the many opportunities that have been offered to me” to work outside politics and devote more time to his family.
He told council cabinet members on Friday that he would be relinquishing the leadership, though he plans to stay on as a ward councillor.
Rodwell’s decision follows his standing down as his party’s candidate for the safe local parliamentary seat of Barking early last month after a complaint of sexual misconduct was made against him a few days before his nomination was due to be confirmed.
On Monday, he said in a statement that Labour has now dismissed the complaint, but described himself as “incredibly hurt” by what happened, adding that “an incredibly stressful time” had been “particularly upsetting for my family who are still living with the consequences”.
His departure from London politics will be greeted with dismay by many in the capital’s housing and development circles, who regard him as an effective and innovative champion for housing delivery and regeneration in Barking & Dagenham and across the capital.
Under Rodwell’s leadership, Barking & Dagenham set up its own regeneration vehicle, Be First, and Reside, a wholly-owned company for building homes for rent below market rates. The most recent London Plan annual monitoring report shows that housing application approvals in Barking & Dagenham were among London’s highest over a five-year period.
He has also stewarded the founding of London’s largest film and TV production centre, Eastbrook Studios, a local higher education centre run by Coventry University, a Women’s Museum, and the City of London’s plans to relocate its historic wholesale markets, Smithfield, Billingsgate and New Spitalfields, to a new site at Dagenham Dock.
Rodwell has been executive member for housing, regeneration and planning at the cross-party London Councils group and, with London Councils vice chair Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Conservative-run Kensington & Chelsea, a leading light of Opportunity London, a campaign backed by Sadiq Khan and promotional body London & Partners, to attract private investment to the capital.
Born and raised in the borough, Rodwell joined Labour in the early 2000s in order to help fight the rise of the British National Party, which won 12 Barking & Dagenham council seats in the May 2006 elections. Four years later, Labour won all 51 council seats and the party has maintained that record under Rodwell’s leadership in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Two years ago Rodwell drew media coverage and criticism after it emerged he had made a “suntan” joke while speaking at a Black History Month event. However, he has been an upfront supporter of his borough’s increasingly ethnically-varied demographic, for example making a St George’s day speech outside Barking Town Hall in April 2023 (pictured) in which he described the English national flag as representing “our diversity, our inclusion” and “a borough I’m proud of”.
In his email to fellow councillors he expresses pride in “building the most diverse council chamber in the country, putting equality front and centre within the council and the community” as well as his record for bringing investment to an area with high levels of poverty. On London understands he was approached by figures from local mosques to contest Barking as an independent, but chose not to.
Rodwell, who has led Barking & Dagenham since June 2014, was selected in October 2022 to succeed Margaret Hodge as Labour candidate for Barking, despite efforts to prevent it by activists from Momentum, the campaign group formed to back the now former Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn during his leadership of the party.
In his statement about being cleared of the allegations against him, Rodwell said he did not believe the timing of the complaint “was a coincidence but a deliberate attempt to besmirch my name and reputation ahead of the nominations”. He strongly denied the misconduct charge at the time it was made.
Rodwell was replaced as candidate for the Barking by Enfield Council leader Nesil Caliskan, who went on to win the seat at the general election on 4 July.
OnLondon.co.uk provides unique coverage of the capital’s politics, development and culture. Support it for just £5 a month or £50 a year and get things for your money too. Details HERE. Threads: DaveHillOnLondon. X/Twitter: On London and Dave Hill.
I knew Darren and his family long before he entered politics. He helped us with ‘The Village Partnership’ also often came to Valence House with his music and dance group. It is a great shame that he has left politics and will be sorely missed in Dagenham. I well understand how he must feel after all he has done in this area.