Islington Crowned Inner London Healthy Streets Champion for Sixth Consecutive Year

The Healthy Streets Scorecard has named Islington the healthiest inner-London borough – recognising action to put local people at the heart of the council’s efforts to transform the streets into healthier, safer and more welcoming places for all.

Among the achievements recognised in the scorecard rankings were:

• Shaping neighbourhoods by and for local people – Continuing the Liveable Neighbourhoods programme shaped by local people, for local people – work is currently under way on our Cally and Mildmay Liveable Neighbourhoods, with more in the works. St John Street Improvement works are underway making the area cleaner, healthier and safer with over 700m2 of new public space, nearly half of which is planting (282m2).

• Creating safer and friendlier School Streets – Delivering a new traffic-reduced school street for Newington Green Primary with new planting, improved footpaths and play features. The borough’s first Secondary School Street for Elizabeth Garrett Anderson planned for implementation over this summer.

• Making the borough healthier and greener – In the last year alone the council has added 1,753 m2 of green space – that’s more than two 5-a-side football pitches. The council has planted over 730 trees across the borough, improved the Tufnell Park area with new trees and rain gardens and added three new pocket parks as part of the Cally Liveable Neighbourhood. The council has also provided a brand-new public garden in St John Street and is bringing forward improvements to Annette Road orchard as part of the Annette Road area Liveable Neighbourhood.
• Encouraging more people to cycle, scoot and walk in Islington – A record 2,974 children and 454 adults took part in free council-run cycle training last year. Over 1,000 people took part in Islington’s all-ability cycling programme encouraging active travel. The council has increased access to safe cycle storage by adding 151 new on-street bike hangars, bringing the total network up to 655 (storage for up to 3,930 bikes), with a further 113 new hangars planned this year. The council has added better cycling infrastructure, improving road and pavement surfaces for safer, easier journeys across the borough.

Cllr Una O’Halloran, Leader of Islington Council said: “Continuing to top the list of inner London boroughs scored on how healthy our streets are for local people is something we’re really proud of.

“It shows our dedication to improving air quality and making the borough safer, healthier and more welcoming for everyone.”

Cllr Rowena Champion, Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality, and Transport, said: “Healthy streets are about more than simply transport – it is about creating spaces where communities can feel safe and live happier, healthier lives.  We’re committed to more environmentally friendly streets, through our tree planting and greening programme including school streets – reducing road danger and making it safer and easier for more people to walk, cycle and wheel.

These improvements continue to demonstrate the council’s commitment to tackling and adapting to climate change, delivering greener public spaces for local people, supporting biodiversity, and helping communities adapt to more extreme weather conditions like heatwaves and heavy rainfall.”