• CONGRATULATIONS Islington on topping the Healthy Streets Scorecard this year.

Islington last week topped the Healthy Streets Scorecard for 2021. This rates London boroughs every year against measures that support public health by the way they manage their streets.

The scorecard ratings cover the percentage of streets with controlled parking, 20mph speed limits, low traffic neighbourhoods, protected bike lanes, and school streets.

As an Islington councillor and London Assembly Member, I spoke at the results launch and, as I prepared what to say, I was struck by the way that the work that led to this success for our borough has covered at least 20 years and has been supported consistently by the rigorous creativity of council officers and championed by elected councillors of several different parties.

Some of us will remember the huge controversy surrounding the initial introduction of controlled parking schemes in the late 1990s and early 2000s, where Liberal Democrat councillor Bridget Fox took much of the heat.

Now it is accepted that paying to store a car on the public highway is normal and actually prevents the borough being used by people from outer London as a park and ride car park to access central London.

Then Islington became the first borough to give all roads a 20mph speed limit, while the council was under no overall political control from 2006 to 2010 and Green councillor Katie Dawson persuaded both Labour and the Lib Dems to include the commitment in their budget proposals.

Since 2010 Labour has run the council and several councillors have held the environment portfolio. The implementation of the 20mph limit proposal was overseen by Cllr Paul Convery.

Former councillor Claudia Webbe introduced the first school streets in Islington in 2018 and oversaw some big projects delivered by Transport for London to make the hostile, traffic-dominated, gyratory systems at Archway, Highbury Corner, and Old Street safer for walking and cycling.

Most recently the council has ambitiously rolled out pop-up bike lanes and trials of low traffic neighbourhoods across the borough under the leadership of Cllr Rowena Champion.

All this change has been influenced by years of campaigning by Islington residents aiming to reduce the numbers of people killed and seriously injured while crossing the road or riding a bike, clean up the air, and make the borough a place where walking and cycling are safe and convenient.

Small things like the council’s recent decision to report on the data for people killed and injured on our roads may be making a difference. If you notice the numbers of people sadly dying it really sharpens the determination to improve things.

My challenge to Islington Council is to rethink the “roamer” parking scheme that encourages short car trips around the borough. And my challenge to the Healthy Streets Scorecard coalition is to find a way to measure and score the accessibility of streets.

Streets across London should work for children, older, and disabled people, whether getting around with a white cane, using sticks, a wheelchair, mobility scooter, or adapted bike.

CLLR CAROLINE RUSSELL AM
Green Party
Highbury East ward & Londonwide Assembly Member