Cllr Terry Stacy has welcomed the news that Highbury Barn and Blackstock Road are to get new hanging baskets this summer. 

Along with Holloway Road, Upper Street and Seven Sisters Road the baskets will be go up from the 27th May with installation completed by the 14th June.  

Cllr Stacy said: “This is great news.  Every year we are working with traders and spending more to make the barn an attractive place to shop and spend time.  The baskets will make a big difference and finally we may feel summer is coming!”

On Wednesday 13 March 2008 the council held the final AFC Liaison Committee held at Emirates Stadium. 

The Liaison Committee was chaired by Ken Friar OBE (Director of Arsenal FC). In attendance were senior managers and representatives from all the partners that are involved in the  operations for the stadium on a match day (Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police, and the British Transport Police). A number of resident and business groups from the local community attended as well as the Arsenal FC supporters association. 

The meeting consisted of a presentation of the results from the monitoring programme for the 2006/07 football season. The headline result of the monitoring are that Arsenal FC have achieved a transport modal split target of 12.5% for the 60,000 spectators travelling to the stadium by modes of transport other than private cars. This compares favourably with the council’s requirement of 20% or below. 

A question and answer session followed the presentation allowing for an open forum to discuss a number of hot topics that are currently issues for the local community. This allowed the stakeholders to directly address a variety of questions raised by the local community and the council will now look at dealing with further problems. 

Further information on this and previous AFC Liaison Committee meetings can be found at www.islington.gov.uk/arsenal. 

For further information please contact Neil Huddart on ext 1826 or e-mail neil.huddart@islington.gov.uk.

The council’s tree service has just bought a new piece of equipment which will make themanagement of trees an easier task by being able to assess tree disease and decay.

The equipment has already saved a tree on Highbury Fields. The ‘picus’ machine can work out the extent of decay inside a tree using sound waves, a bit like an ultra sound machine used for checking unborn babies. 

Information gained from a picus test enables a tree officer to make a much more informed diagnosis of the condition of a tree. In the past the unknown extent of decay in a tree often left no safe option but to fell. This equipment can’t be used to assess every type of disease that affects trees, but it will be invaluable to Islington’s tree service in assessing the condition of trees with external signs of trunk decay, and will allow a wider range of management options in many cases.

Islington is also one of only a handful of local authorities with this equipment.  See below an example of a scan, the colours indicating the different consistencies of wood, and attached, a photo of tree officer Sheridan Sayer using the picus at Highbury Fields. 

For more information please contact James Chambers on ext 4572 or e-mail james.chambers@islington.gov.uk.

The Greener, Cleaner Safer day took place on the 7th in Highbury Fields and was a big success. The weather helped, there was plenty of sunshine many more people were in the park. Street Environment officers were present throughout the day. There were displays by Street Environment and Greenspace offering advice and information On the day the Graffiti team carried out proactive work and all graffiti was removed from all bins in the area and the bins were also washed by the ART team.The highways department repaired footway potholes in the park and Street Wardens were in attendance as were the Safer Neighbourhood Team, who made regular patrols in the park and surrounding area. Parkguard attended between 3pm and 7pm offering advice etc. with regards to dogs and several young people took up the offer of training advice and the free grooming kits that were available. 40 cubic metres of compost from Edmonton was delivered at 9am and a steady stream of residents collected it free of charge throughout the day. All the Islington staff in attendance assisted residents in loading their bags, boxes or whatever containers they brought. As this had been publicised across the borough in ‘Islington Now’ residents from across the borough took advantage of the free compost.During the course of the day approx 800 people spoke to staff asking for advice or taking information leaflets.

Premises Licence (Variation) - Thai Corner Café

Address: 236 St Paul’s Road, London, N1 2LJ Received by the licensing team: 11 April 2008 Last date for representations: 9 May 2008 The existing licence allows:

• the premises to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises: 1000 to 0000 from Monday to Saturday and 1200 to 2330 on Sunday
• the provision of regulated entertainment for the playing of recorded music: 24 hours seven days a week
• the provision of late night refreshment: 2300 to 0030 the following day from Monday to Saturday and 2300 to 0000 on Sunday The proposed variation is to:
  • to extend the area that alcohol can be consumed to include the garden area at rear of premises on the lower ground floor level: 1000 to 0000 from Monday to Saturday and 1200 to 2330 on Sunday Please contact Aiden Fitzsimons on 020 7527 3031 you would like a copy of the application. You are not able to make a representation unless you personally live or have a businesses within the vicinity of the premises.

Four post offices across Islington are facing the threat of closure as a result of action by the Labour Government and Royal Mail. One of those facing the “chop” is at 147 Blackstock Road.

Highbury East Cllr Laura Willoughby has joined Liberal Democrat GLA Candidate Cllr Meral Ece, who are pictured outside the post office below. Meral and Laura have launched a petition to keep the post office open, and are urging local residents to support their campaign.

Meral, who lives close to the post office under threat and who uses it on a regular basis, said, “Post offices like the one on Blackstock Road are a life line to communities like ours that live along Blackstock Road and across Highbury.”      

Highbury Councillor Laura Willoughby added, “Yet another Islington post office bites the dust. Labour and the Royal Mail just don’t care about us.” You can 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.

Did you know Starbucks at Highbury Corner has ONE BAG A DAY STOLEN from its premises? Did you know they do very little about this and have no plans to help protect its customers? I think residents in Islington deserve better from its retailers, especially large profitable chains like Starbucks.  So I hope you will sign my petition calling for them to take action. You can find by clicking here  and do pass the link on to your friends. Cllr Laura Willoughby Liberal Democrat Councillor for Highbury East

Highbury East ward Councillors were proud to nomiante Maryse Lassartesse-Jones and Martin Jones for the Mayors Civic Award last week.  Martin and Maryse are treasurer and chairman of the Highbury Fields Association.

For ten years they have worked relentlessly for the conservation and improvement of the fields and surrounding area, including the new tennis courts, the children’s playground and the transformation of the Oasis Café.

Cllr John Gilbert in his nomination speech said “It is great to be able to recognise the hard work of martin and Maryse, they give so much of their time and to reward such dedication is fantastic.”

The Mayors Civic Awards recognise residents of the borough for their major and unique contribution to life in Islington. People like Martin and Maryse often go unnoticed, so the awards ceremony was a way to say a big ‘thank you’ to all of them.

If you know of someone who does a lot for the community here in Highbury do let us know and we can ensure they are nominated next year.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is considering an appeal against this Council’s decision to refuse permission  at 10 Rosa Alba Mews, Islington, London, N5 2QL for the erection of a  3 storey side extension, 2 storey rear addition including facade alterations to existing mews end terrace.