Islington Lib Dems have launched a survey to get residents’ views about what the priorities for Islington should be.

With local elections this May it is time for residents to decide who they want to run the council - the Lib Dems who have a record of success in making Islington better or Labour, whose shameful record includes:

• plans to cut the Whittington Hospital
• voting against Lib Dem plans to put more police on our streets
• and the Iraq war

The Lib Dem have launched 4 pledges. We want you to tell us which of our pledges are most important to you or add your own. You can do this on-line here.
1. We will cut crime

Everyone has the right to live in a safe, clean environment. That’s why local Lib Dems are pledging to cut crime. We will provide more late-night policing on top of regular police patrols provided by the Mayor of London. We will crack down on late licences for bars and clubs. Tougher action will be taken against those who do not clear up after their dogs. Vote now.

2. A better start for our young people
Local Lib Dems on the Council have worked hard to help deliver the best ever school exam results in Islington.
We pledge to build on this success and get better exam results this year too. We also pledge to give local young people more housing points. We will deliver more apprenticeships for our young people to ensure they get the best start in life. Vote now.

3. A greener Islington
Combating climate change and global warming is the single biggest challenge we face. Local Lib Dems are pledging to make Islington greener. One of the ways we will do this is through more local energy generation. This will lower people’s energy bills and create new green, local jobs. Vote now.

4. We will lower taxes
Gordon Brown’s recession means that everyone’s had to tighten their belts. Local Lib Dems believe that money is better off in your pocket rather than in council coffers. Labour councillors voted to raise council tax this year. We’re pledging to keep your council tax among the lowest 10 councils in all of London. Vote now.

5. Or add your own - we want your views too. You can do that by clicking here.

Click here to tell us your priorities for Islington

Despite the promises of Boris back in May there has been no progress on the killer junction at Holloway Road/Fieldway Crescent and as a result there has been another serious accident at this spot.

Little over a year since Lisa Pontecorvo died, Leader of the Council and Highbury Councillor Terry Stacy met the Mayor personally to ask what was creating the log jam. Shortly after this meeting another person was injured. Terry and ward colleagues have reacted angrily to the continual delays and the latest news from Boris (below) was clearly TfL stalling the project again.

Terry said: “It is just not a priority for them. They know there is pressure but it is not high enough up their list!”

In a recent answer to GLA member Caroline Pidgeon Boris said:

“The timelines involved are partly due to the nature and complexity of the Transport for London Road Network and the need to balance the competing demands and priorities of all users, at both the local and strategic level. This is particularly the case at this junction, where the needs of cyclists and pedestrians crossing Holloway Road not only need to be balanced against the vehicular traffic travelling along the corridor, but also against each others’ desires to cross the road.

“TfL has now developed six options providing the most appropriate changes at this junction given these competing demands on the network.  Further work is required to narrow these to a preferred option(s), to take forward for more detailed development.”

Cllr John Gilbert who has been leading the campaign said: “This is just red tape - it has taken over a year to get to this stage, now they want a process to narrow down the options from 6 to 1. They are stalling for time because they do not want to spend the money. This is not good enough!”

Our petition is still live. Please sign-up to the campaign below.

As your local councillors its important we know what you think, so as well as telling you what’s going on in Highbury, we would like you to tell us what you want changed or what could be done better. So here you will find our Highbury East Residents Survey.

This survey is just one way of communicating with your ward councillors. By filling it in you will help us make Highbury East a better place and help set us some priorities to improve things for you.

To fill it in just CLICK HERE

Liberal Democrat councillors for Highbury East are calling on the Government to support a new bid for funding to make Drayton Park railway station safer, smarter, and more accessible for disabled people.

Islington Council and First Capital Connect, the train operator, have submitted a joint bid to the Department for Transport to give the station step-free access.  Access to both platforms at Drayton Park Station is currently via a steep set of stairs.  The funding would also improve safety and comfort for passengers, with new lighting and new benches.

Funding for Drayton Park station was rejected by the Government last year, so the local councillors are demanding that the Government don’t overlook it this time around.

Councillor John Gilbert represented Highbury East residents in a meeting with First Capital Connect to discuss the station earlier this year, after Highbury East’s Lib Dem councillors had a huge response to a petition they ran asking First Capital Connect to keep the ticket office open at the station.  John commented:

“Drayton Park station really needs improvements, and we’re writing to the Secretary of State to try and make sure that our local station isn’t overlooked yet again by the Government.

“In our meeting with First Capital Connect earlier this year, we also discussed opening a shop or café in the station to sell tickets from.  At the time they seemed positive about the idea, so we are going to be raising this again with the train company to try and really improve the station for local commuters.”

Highbury Resident Julie Horten said:

“There are many people living around here with mobility problems or who use wheelchairs, and Drayton Park School has teaching facilities for pupils with physical disabilities. Step-free disabled access to our local station would be a godsend for all those people as well as parents with pushchairs.”

Highbury East Councillors and LibDem activists, John Gilbert, Terry Stacy, Laura Willoughby and Julie Horten have been campaigning hard to get Transport for London to improve the treacherous cycle crossing over Holloway Road between Fieldway Crescent and Madras Place.  We keep pressing the Tory Mayor, Boris Johnson, who is responsible for the crossing as it is on a major road controlled by Transport for London.  Most recently LibDem GLA Member Caroline Pidgeon raised the issue with Boris again at Mayor’s Question time and yet was fobbed off with a bureaucratic reply about “options being developed” and “preliminary designs”.

It is a year since a cyclist was killed at this crossing and regular users know that heavy lorries constantly drive across the cycle crossing against red lights because the lights are so badly positioned that drivers cannot see them.  We don’t need “options to be developed” or “preliminary designs”.  What we need is action in the shape of a repeater set of traffic lights, a bigger box junction with fresh yellow paint and we need proper enforcement.  Boris and his bureaucrats should know that the LibDem team will not rest until we have them.

You voted for more trees - now tell us where to put them

You voted overwhelmingly in our on-line poll for more trees in Highbury East. Now you decide where you would like to see new trees in your patch. Tell us your locations by email: Laura, Terry and John by clicking here or in the form below. You can also tell us where you want to see new bins!

You can complete the locations you want to see by clicking here and completing the locations here

The Government’s Planning Inspector has announced his decision on Arsenal’s appeal against the decision of Islington Council’s East Area Planning Committee not to allow matchday coach parking on the streets around the Emirates stadium.

As expected, the inspector has allowed the appeal but with important safeguards for local residents.  First of all coaches will have to fill up all the spaces in the off street car park at the Sobell centre and then on Queensland Road before they are allowed to park on residential streets.  Only when both those locations are filled up will they be allowed to park on Drayton Park - and the inspector has laid down that this may only happen for a maximum of two matches a year.

Commenting on the decision local LibDem councillor John Gilbert, who was a member of the planning committee which originally turned down the application, said “This is as good a result as we could hope for.  The Council originally planned for all football coaches to park underneath the stadium, but the police decided while the stadium was being built that this would pose too great a terrorism risk and the Council has had to grapple with the problem of coach parking ever since.  A maximum of two occasions a year on which coaches will be parked on Drayton Park is a good result for local residents  - and a vast improvement on the situation when I first came to Highbury and Arsenal played at the old stadium when coaches parked along Drayton Park for nearly every match”

After months of prevarication by Tory Mayor, Boris Johnson, Terry, John and Laura’s campaign for safety improvements to the cycle and pedestrian crossing over Holloway Road between Fieldway Crescent and Madras Place is at last bearing fruit. LibDem GLA member Caroline Pidgeon who has been campaigning alongside the three Highbury East Councillors has now been told by one of Boris’ advisers “that deliverable options could exist to enable us to provide a facility for pedestrians and cyclists without impacting on other road users”.

Translated into English, that appears to mean that they can make the crossing safer and they are at last working on what they call “interim designs” for the improvements, which they have promised to show us by the end of June. Interim designs are not the same as moving the traffic lights but at least it is some progress and Terry, John and Laura will be keeping on the pressure to make sure that Boris’ creaking bureaucracy finally delivers the results local councillors and residents have been campaigning for.

Laura, Terry and John have thrown their hands up in despair at Mayor Boris Johnson’s total lack of action on the unsafe cycle crossing on Holloway Road.

They presented a petition of over 1000 local residents demanding action at the cycle crossing near Central Library where Lisa Pontecorvo was killed eight months ago.

The latest response received from the Mayor states once again that he will ‘review’ the junction and look at ‘cost effective’ solutions. But this answer is not much different from the response he gave in October 2008 when asked a question in City Hall about the same junction.

Cyclist and Highbury East Liberal Democrat councillor John Gilbert said:

“We asked a question at City Hall back in October 2008. The response was that they were reviewing the collision data and the design.

“But six months on and Boris just says he will review the junction again! How many times do they have to look it at?

“It is obviously a dangerous junction. Residents have asked for action and someone has been killed here. We want the junction changed now. It’s not rocket science.”

GLA member Caroline Pidgeon, who presented the petition and asked the question on behalf of Highbury residents said: “This is just ridiculous. Residents want a Mayor that gets things done. Sadly in Boris’s case there is no sign of that.”

Highbury East Councillors are keeping up the pressure. You can sign the petition by clicking here

The Letters

The reply received from the Mayor in October 2008 said:
“TfL is currently undertaking a review of the last three years of collision data for the junction of Holloway Road with Madras Place/Fieldway Crescent. In conjunction with this study, a review of the previous design options is being carried out along with an on-site assessment to identify options to improve conditions for both pedestrians and cyclists.”

The letter from the Mayor of London received on the 23rd April 2009 says:
“I have asked TfL to review the issues relating to this junction and to determine whether any cost effective solutions can be made.”

The campaign by Highbury East LibDem councillors, Laura Willoughby, Terry Stacy and John Gilbert to save the ticket office at Drayton Park station has resulted in success.  At a meeting with LibDem councillors on 25 March, the train operator, First Capital Connect, agreed to abandon their plans to close the ticket office and will now to keep it open from 6am to 10am on weekdays.  First Capital Connect also confirmed that they would investigate converting part of the inside of the station building into a retail shop/cafe which would be open during normal trading hours and where travellers could also buy a full range of rail tickets.  If this proves feasible the shop could be open by the end of this year.

The reprieve for the ticket office is one of a series of improvements at Drayton Park promised by First Capital Connect during the meeting.  Others included running more 6-carriage trains to relieve overcrowding from later in 2009, a face-lift for the station building and improved access to the platform.

Local LibDem councillor, John Gilbert, who represented Highbury East at the meeting with First Capital Connect, said “I’m delighted that our campaign on behalf of local residents has been such a success.  There is more to be done at Drayton Park to improve the frequency of the service and the comfort and reliability of the trains.  This will take longer to achieve but I’m really pleased that First Capital Connect recognise the issues commuters face at the station and are listening to their concerns”

Local councillors Laura Willoughby, Terry Stacy and John Gilbert presented a petition to GLA member Caroline Pidgeon this week in protest urging action to improve safety on the junction of Holloway Road, Fieldway Crescent and Madras Place. Caroline, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson, formally presented a petition on our behalf this week to Mayor of London Boris Johnson asking him to take action.

The petition has been signed by around 300 Islington residents and was organised by the Liberal Democrat Councillors from Highbury East ward.

After presenting the petition on Wednesday morning Caroline said:
“I am delighted to be able to support this campaign. It is absolutely necessary to make the junction safer for both cyclists and pedestrians. I have already asked two questions to the Mayor over this issue and I hope this petition really forces Boris Johnson to ensure Transport for London sort out this problem.”

Councillor John Gilbert said: “Local councillors and residents have been asking for changes to this junction for many years. There has already been a death at this junction as well as many near misses. The dangerous positioning of the traffic lights at the junction of Holloway Road with Fieldway Crescent and Madras Place must be addressed before any further accidents take place.”

The petition was presented to Boris Johnson was presented by Caroline Pidgeon at the London Assembly Plenary Session on 18th March. In response to written questions from Caroline in September 2008 about progress on safety measures the Mayor wrote:

TfL has undertaken a review of the last three years of collision data for the junction of Holloway Road with Madras Place/Fieldway Crescent. In conjunction with this study, a site assessment has been undertaken and previous design options work has been re–examined.Options could include relocating an existing pedestrian crossing on the south side of the junction so that it is closer to the pedestrian ‘desire line’ (the point at which pedestrians naturally cross) and introducing a new pedestrian crossing on the north side of the junction. TfL will progress preliminary design and traffic modelling of these options at the start of the 2009/10 financial year.

When pushed again in October 2008 he said:

TfL is currently undertaking a review of the last three years of collision data for the junction of Holloway Road with Madras Place/Fieldway Crescent. In conjunction with this study, a review of the previous design options is being carried out along with an on-site assessment to identify options to improve conditions for both pedestrians and cyclists.

“The presentation of the petition shows the fustration of local people not being able to get a result - how much reviewing needs to be done”
added John Gilbert

As you know, every year each councillor in Islington is allocated £6,666 to spend on projects in their ward. Here in Highbury East we pool ours, making a £20,000 fund to maximise the benefit to our neighbourhood and the local community.

So far we have supported a wide range of projects across the area, which have included:

New bike stands installed across the neighbourhood and secure bike parking at Taverner Sq & Peckett Sq

We have provided equipment for youth and OAP clubs in Highbury, including a new bingo machine for the Highbury Roundhouse OAP club and new sports equipment for the Roundhouse Youth Club. The Sotheby Mews Day Centre also benefited from new equipment.

But we need to to help us decide what to spend it on this year. Suggestions are listed below, but we are up for any idea you may have - so vote by using the poll to the left of this story or emailing by clicking here :

Local Lib Dem Councillors were shocked to learn that First are planning to close the ticket office at Drayton Park. The plans were revealed when First started asking people who use the station for their views on the potential closure of the ticket office. Local Lib Dem councillors have launched a petition against the closure of the ticket office.

In response they have set up an online petition: to sign it click here

Laura Willoughby, Councillor for Highbury East comments:
“I’m concerned about the impact this will have on the use of the station, this can’t be good security and will make the station less safe for travellers. The closure of this ticket office is the thin end of the wedge and could be the first step towards closing the station. That’s why I will be raising this issue at the East Area Committee meeting.”“This is outrageous, its’ bad enough that the ticket office is only open until lunch time on weekdays, now they want to close it altogether! People pay a lot of money to travel on First trains they should at least be able to have somewhere to buy their tickets instead of having to rely on machines which aren’t always reliable and can break down.”Currently the ticket office is open from 06.30 to 13.00 Monday to Friday.

Below is the letter Terry Stacy sent to Lord Adonis. Please write as well.

Lord Adonis
Minister of State for Transport
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London, SW1P 4DR

Lord Adonis,

I am writing to draw your attention to the recent decision by First Capital Connect to consult on the closure of the ticket office at Drayton Park station in Islington. Currently the ticket office is open from 06.30 to 13.00 Monday to Friday and closed on weekends, First Capital Connect have said that they plan to stop opening the ticket office during these hours effectively closing the ticket office altogether.

I am very concerned about the implications of the ticket office closing and the impact that this could have on security and safety at the station. If the ticket office is closed down this will leave the station unmanned. Local residents and rail users have also raised concerns with me about the closure the reliability of the ticket machines.

Passengers pay First Capital Connect a lot of money to travel on their trains it is unacceptable that they should have to rely on ticket machines which are likely to break down.

I understand that you recently ordered South West Trains to reduce their planned cuts to ticket office opening hours. I urge to make a similar order requiring First Capital Connect to keep the current opening hours at Drayton Park.

Terry Stacy
Councillor for Highbury East

Local Lib Dem Councillors were shocked to learn that First are planning to close the ticket office at Drayton Park. The plans were revealed when First started asking people who use the station for their views on the potential closure of the ticket office. Local Lib Dem councillors have launched a petition against the closure of the ticket office.

In response they have set up an online petition: to sign it click here

Laura Willoughby, Councillor for Highbury East comments:
“I’m concerned about the impact this will have on the use of the station, this can’t be good security and will make the station less safe for travellers. The closure of this ticket office is the thin end of the wedge and could be the first step towards closing the station. That’s why I will be raising this issue at the East Area Committee meeting.”

“This is outrageous, its’ bad enough that the ticket office is only open until lunch time on weekdays, now they want to close it altogether! People pay a lot of money to travel on First trains they should at least be able to have somewhere to buy their tickets instead of having to rely on machines which aren’t always reliable and can break down.”

Currently the ticket office is open from 06.30 to 13.00 Monday to Friday.

As many of you know there have been a spate of accidents at the cycle crossing between Fieldwayd Crescent and Madras Place crossing the Holloway Road. Most recently community activist and resident Lisa Pontecorvo. Since her tragic accident we have been asking Transport for London for changes to this crossing with little luck.

So we need you to help us. By signing this petition we hope our combined voices could bring about change.

Sign the petition by clicking here

As many of you have just received your council tax bills again it is worth looking at the projects that have been agreed in this area as a result of your donations to the climate change fund.  As you will remember, along with £3m from the council, residents were able to donate their council tax discount of £20 to the fund.  The aim of the Climate Change Fund is to fund individuals and projects to improve the environment.  Residents can bid for help with projects in their own home (for more information click here. ) and community and public buildings can apply for match funding.  In Highbury the following projects have been approved:

• Highbury Pool - over £100,000 towards solar thermal energy
• New Park Day Centre - nearly £20,000 towards solar thermal energy
• The Ecology Centre had over £20,000 for a biomass boiler
• Residents in Birchmore Walk on the Highbury Quadrant Estate will get  solar thermal energy

And there are lots more projects to come.  If you run a community building or have ideas for a project do let us know.