"We’re working to build a cleaner, greener, fairer future for everyone in Islington." Cllr Rowena Champion, Islington Council’s executive member for environment and transport
After declaring a Climate Emergency in Islington last year and committing to becoming a net zero carbon borough, Islington’s Labour-run Council is investing in important measures to make our borough fairer and greener.
Today’s capital investment strategy proposals give a green light to a number of projects up and down Islington that will tackle the issues that matter most to residents, while reducing carbon emissions and cleaning up air quality.
Despite having to cope with £250m in cuts to its budget from Tory-led governments since 2010, Islington Labour has, this year, announced a budget to invest in a fairer, greener Islington.
Local communities in Mildmay and Highbury East can look forward to Islington’s biggest Liveable Neighbourhood, with £1 million being invested to reduce traffic, improve road safety and tackle toxic air pollution. It will aim to eliminate through traffic while still providing local access to local residents and those who genuinely need it.
The Council is also undertaking a major electrification project of its fleet of 230 vehicles, leading by example by moving towards zero emission vehicles and taking polluting vehicles off Islington’s streets.
Last month’s budget announcements committed the Council to spending £10m on capital investment over the next year and today’s proposals set out how that will be spent. Every ward in the borough will see investment, ranging from repairing playground equipment and library roofs to increasing tree canopy cover and installing new cycle parking. All of which will improve the environment in Islington by making our green spaces more attractive and helping residents move to more environmentally-friendly modes of transport.
Cllr Rowena Champion, Islington Council’s executive member for environment and transport, said:
“Tackling the Climate Emergency is a golden thread running through everything the Council does. We’re working to build a cleaner, greener, fairer future for everyone in Islington.
“Islington’s first Liveable Neighbourhood will be closely designed with local communities to cut through traffic, make it easier and safer to walk and cycle, and create a better and more pleasant environment with better air quality. It will be Islington’s first Liveable Neighbourhood – and we are committed to more. This budget shows the difference Labour in power can make to people’s lives.”
The full set of budget proposals can be read here. The full programme of additional capital funding announced today is in Appendix F1.