Campaigners who want to save the Sobell Centre’s ice rink, during a Town Hall protest

THE famous ice rink at the Sobell Centre WILL be dumped, the Town Hall has ruled.

Skaters have been left devastated by a final council decision not to restore the facility – a feature in Islington since the 1970s – after it was wrecked by a Thames Water flood last summer.

And they have a lasting bitter taste from learning earlier in their campaign to save the rink that a Labour adviser to the Town Hall leadership, Charlie Rainsford, had privately said that “we need to at least make it look like we are listening” in relation to a consultation survey. Campaigners said the end result was therefore hardly surprising and that they were doomed to be ignored from the moment an idea to turn it into a ninja warrior-style soft play zone arose.

Madeleine Beasley, a campaigner and figure-skating coach at the Sobell, said: “It’s very frustrating. We knew this would happen because it’s been pre-determined.”

The skaters only learned of Mr Rainsford’s email after a Freedom of Information request unlocked a cache of private messages.

Islington said that the comment was taken out of context, but that the council had always said that retaining the rink was never seen as the favoured option for the building.

Ms Beasley added: “What really upsets me is that they have no knowledge of the history of the rink. They have no idea how much service we’ve provided to the people of Islington, and if they do, then they don’t care.”

Karen Coombes, a figure-skating coach at the Sobell, said: “The Labour councillors who believe the consultation was wrong, or anyone who believes the consultation was corrupt, how are they not jumping up and down saying this is awful?

“The soft play centre – it’s a fad. People come back 20 years later to skate. It’s a sport for life. Ninja parks are for the weekend with candyfloss and McDonald’s.”

Jonathan Duff, a Sobell figure-skater and cam­paigner said: “We’re not going to stop. We’re going to highlight the council’s failings, and remind people that there are ways to retain the rink.”

Benali Hamdache, leader of the borough’s Green Party group, is calling for campaigners to contact their Labour councillors and ask them to join the Greens in “calling in the decision”, which will be signed off on August 2. This would send the decision to a scrutiny committee, where it would be reviewed again by a wider group of councillors.

“It’s a real loss of a multigenerational sports offer that’s been around for 50 years,” he said. “There’s still time for backbench councillors to save the centre, they just need to join us in calling the decision in.”

Town Hall leader Councillor Kaya Comer-Schwartz said: “We worked tirelessly to ensure that as many people as possible took part in that consultation, from a range of backgrounds. As well as distributing leaflets to 25,000 households, we went in person to schools, libraries, events, and sports tournaments to encourage people to take part in our consultation.

“We listened and we’re set to create a brand-new programme of activities, some of which will be aimed at groups including black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities, women and girls, young people, and over-60s – and we’re expanding the range of sports on offer. While the council kept an open mind during the consultation, the proposal to not reinstate the ice rink was partly down to the huge cost of maintaining it.

“Reinstating the ice rink would come at a huge cost, which poses a significant challenge given the financial difficulties the council faces.

“We’ve worked really hard to explore ways to reinstate the ice rink – such as alternative provision, making it net-zero carbon, and reducing the size of the active zone to create space for it. Unfortun­ately, none of these solutions were viable.”