Islington Council has been recognised as the top-inner London borough for “healthy streets” and, for the first time, the overall winner of the scorecard. This achievement underlines the hard work and success of efforts to create a greener, healthier borough for all.

The Healthy Streets Scorecard ranks London boroughs on the action that they’ve taken to make it easier for residents to walk, cycle, and wheel. The Labour-led Islington Council has taken many steps to make this goal a reality, including:

• Creating seven low-traffic neighbourhoods, with research showing that air quality has improved overall within and on the roads immediately surrounding the neighbourhoods.
• Working with local children, parents, guardians, and teachers to improve the school gate by creating 37 School Streets and through major improvements outside other schools.
• Investing in making pavements across the borough safer and more accessible, especially for disabled people.
• Working with local people to create more green space on streets, including by providing funding to turn their eco-friendly ideas into a reality.
• Building new walking and cycle routes, including between Nag’s Head and York Way.
• Committing to creating a network of liveable neighbourhoods, where local people can shape exciting changes in their communities – whether it’s repurposing car parking space to create new pocket parks, creating new spaces for children to exercise and play, or creating better routes to local amenities.

Cllr Rowena Champion, Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality, and Transport, said: “Here in Islington, we believe that our streets are far more than just routes from A to B – they’re community spaces that all should be able to enjoy using, and play a vital role in supporting the health and wellbeing of local people.

“Over the past four years, we’ve seen how that vision has come to life. Through exciting schemes like our seven LTNs, 37 School Streets, building a network of cycleways, and pavement improvements we’ve created a greener, healthier borough for all, and we’re already seeing local people benefiting.

“But we’re far from done. We’re working directly with local people to understand the improvements they’d like to see in their communities as we create liveable neighbourhoods, we’re expanding our cycle training schemes so that even more residents can take part, and we’re continuing to work tirelessly to transform Islington’s streets.”