Environment chief Rowena Champion with children at Robert Blair School

IT has been a mission which has put the council on a collision course with motorists, leading to protests on the Town Hall steps and complaints that traffic has chugged up on congested boundary roads.

But councillors’ unwavering commitment to road closures and policies aimed at reducing emissions has been hailed by a coalition of campaign groups, which this week put the borough at the top of its charts.

The Healthy Streets group ranked the work of all of London’s boroughs and for the fourth year in a row said Islington performed best on its ‘scorecard’.

Measures have included the low traffic neighbourhoods, limiting car use near schools, creating new routes for cycling and improving pavements.

Environment lead councillor Rowena Champion said: “We’re already seeing local people benefiting – but we’re far from done.”