I’ve lived in Newham for forty years. No period has been as grim as the last few months, when the pandemic has hit us so hard.

But it’s a good time to start looking forward again. We should plan to “build back better”. We need improvements for all, not least for young people growing up in Newham today.

In the early 1980s, I remember Stratford’s Railway Locomotive Works held an open day. It was a reminder of past industries which provided jobs on a huge scale. The Works closed soon after. By the mid-1980s, with the docks already gone and countless factories lost in the Thatcher recession, unemployment was sky-high.

In 1987, I became Newham’s Chair of Planning. British Rail short-listed Stratford as a possible terminus on the “Channel Tunnel Rail Link” – now High Speed 1. It seemed unlikely to be chosen.

The line was being planned south of the Thames, not north. We launched a campaign for Stratford anyway. After over a decade, in 1998, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott committed the Government to supporting Stratford International Station.

When building work began, hosting the 2012 Olympics at Stratford became plausible. In 2005, in Singapore, the International Olympic Committee – impressed by young people from East London who represented us – chose London over the favourite, Paris. Westfield Stratford opened. The 2012 Games were a massive success. Visitors from every country felt at home.

London 2012 shifted London east. That shift is still under way. We need to make the most of the changes, and, again, seize the agenda with a fresh vision for East London over the next forty years.

London’s key development site for the next decade is the Royal Docks. That makes Newham the focus for London’s development in the period ahead.

It opens up opportunities to renew Newham’s housing. Government neglect of the housing crisis has been a disgrace. But Newham Council is pioneering new solutions for building social housing.

We need it to succeed, and support national policies to help provide, finally, a decent home for all those who don’t have one at the moment.

Ethnically diverse communities like ours have borne the brunt of the pandemic. But diversity equips us to trade, with fast growing economies including India and Bangladesh.

Newham’s youthfulness makes us a place for new ideas, attractive for high-growth businesses to set up and thrive. We can attract the jobs we need, and build on success since 2012 in supporting local residents into employment.

We have had a dreadful few months. But we can turn things round, and our future potential looks brighter than ever. We need to plan now to Stephen Timms MP on a street clean with supporters deliver the future that we all want.

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