COUNCILLORS arriving for last night’s (Thursday’s) full council meeting were met with a carnival of protest as skaters called for their ice rink to be restored.

The Town Hall is currently deciding what to do with the flood-hit Sobell Centre in Holloway with plans for a soft play adventure lined up as a possible replacement for the ice.

But campaigners with a loud speaker system pumping out Vanilla Ice’s song Ice, Ice Baby said the rink must return and a large crowd of protesters was lined up on the steps ready to present a petition to council leaders.

It was revealed last week that one of Labour’s advisers had sent an email saying that the council had to “at least make it look like we are listening” to the group who want to get back onto ice, leading to suspicion over how seriously Islington is taking its consultation survey over the sports centre.

Skater Nana Armitage, ice hockey coach Steve James and Sobell ice skating coach Karen Combes

Skating coach Karen Combes, who started using the rink 52 years ago, said the place “means everything to me” and called on the council to keep it open for the hundreds of users who loved it.

She described how among her thousands of pupils she trained the first black British championship contender, along with a young boy whose mother was dying, through her “affordable” programme that allows those with less money to take up the sport.

Campaigners have saved the Sobell rink before and there was a touch of déjà-vu. In 2008, we reported on skaters protesting on the steps of the Town Hall as they convinced the council not to bin the ice

Green councillor Caroline Russell said the revelation of secret messages inside the Town Hall, which came to light after a request under the Freedom of Information Act, had “undermined trust and confidence in local government processes” and called on them to “properly scope out restoring the ice rink”.

Islington are owed more than £2.5million from Better GLL in unpaid rent and say they need £1.8m to reopen the rink – something campaigners say should be footed by Thames Water after the flood which led to the damage.

The chanting could still be heard as the meeting began and the Tribune went to press last night.

A council spokesperson said last week the consultation process was meaningful and would be fully considered, but added: “The council has made no secret of the fact that it considered the case for not reinstating the ice rink to be an extremely strong one, such that it would take a lot to lead it to now take a different course and reinstate the ice rink.”