Green Highbury

Highbury Roundhouse - Let's see what we can do!

2012-02-02T11:30:00.000Z

A good turn out of concerned residents attended the Highbury East Ward Partnership meeting on Tuesday night to hear the latest update on plans for the Highbury Roundhouse. The planning brief for the proposed development is due to go to the Council Executive for approval next week. Clearly the council has listened to comments submitted in response to their consultation, offering residents some comfort on amenity and the impact of the development on neighbouring properties, though many still have concerns.

However it is quite clear that developers are being given carte blanche to demolish the Roundhouse office building at 71 Ronalds Rd to allow them to go for new build (VAT free) rather than refurbishing the existing building which would incur VAT payments. When questioned, the council claimed the building not being listed as justification for allowing demolition. VAT incentives to demolish are clearly a national planning problem but if the council had a serious commitment to sustainability it would encourage the retention and refurbishment of a perfectly sound building.

Further, the council seems to have given up on its strategic aim to provide a recreational walking & cycling route from Highbury Fields, via Gillespie Park to link up with the Parkland Walk at Finsbury Park. Even though it is currently working on this link through the Sustrans Connect 2 project at the other end. While Whistler St residents and users of Olden Gardens have justifiable (but not insurmountable) concerns about design and security this should not be enough to justify cancelling what would be a major strategic benefit for the borough. The proposed omission of this final link in the chain is a sad loss for Islington. Islington Green Party urge Councillor Convery to reconsider this before finalising the planning brief.

While residents were relieved to hear that at last the Council has allowed the Roundhouse a lease, a major concern is that the Roundhouse has to raise nearly two million pounds by the end of this year. This is a moment for all of us in Highbury who care about this precious community asset, to either dig deep in our pockets or get creative with fund raising ideas. While the Roundhouse are already approaching numerous potential funders, a clear demonstration of community effort in raising funds will make a more persuasive case. Highbury, lets see what we can do!

Ward Partnerships - democratic accountability?

2012-02-01T14:40:00.000Z

Local residents wishing to "play a role in influencing decisions and services in their areas" are invited by the Council to do so through attendance at regular ward partnership meetings with elected councillors in each of Islington's sixteen wards. You may be interested to hear that one ward partnership appears never to have met, nine wards have no future meetings advertised and five of those have not met since September or earlier.

The council website states "Ward Partnerships have replaced Islington’s area committees and must be consulted by council departments on a range of issues that affect local residents including: planning and community benefit from developments; traffic and parking; road maintenance; utility works; crime and anti-social behaviour; environmental improvements; tree felling; litter, dog fouling and neighbourhood clean-ups."

Islington Green Party congratulates those councillors who are advertising and holding regular meetings, providing "a way for people and organisations in a ward to get involved, meet councillors, share their knowledge and to help tackle local issues". But with half our wards having no future meetings advertised there appears to be a significant shortfall in local democracy in the system. Over half our elected councillors should take urgent action to establish a programme of future meeting dates, advertising them widely to enable the community to engage with these important local issues.

This was picked up by the Islington Tribune. Councillor Convery seems unconcerned that meetings are not being held regularly in some wards depriving residents of the opportunity to "get involved, meet councillors, share their knowledge and help tackle local issues".

Can we trust Islington Labour to safeguard our trees?

2011-06-17T23:48:00.003+01:00

Last week, the campaign to save two mature plane trees in Richmond Avenue, came to an abrupt conclusion when the trees were unceremoniously chopped down by the Council. As reported by the Islington Tribune, private insurers had said the trees were the cause of subsidence to a large property in the road and that the trees had to go.

Campaigner Meg Howarth claims in last weeks's Tribune that the recorded damage is "very slight, the lowest possible official category of structural damage and certainly fixable by underpinning". This suggests the felling is a clear breach of the council's new tree policy 14: "we only fell trees for sound arboricultural reasons such as...proven to be causing significant structural damage."

Executive Member for the Environment Cllr Paul Smith inherited a comprehensive tree policy written in 1992, updated in 2002 and again in 2009. He decided a new common sense tree policy was required to "protect Islington's trees while slashing bureaucracy".

Cllr Smith has certainly "slashed bureaucracy", but his new slimmed-down two page tree policy has not "protected" two precious, mature planes from the unreasonable demands of insurers keen to minimise their costs.

Ironically the trees were felled, in the same week that Islington Council published it's excellent Fairness Commission report . The felling was in direct contravention of the Commission's Recommendation 11 on Public Space, which states "we need to reclaim, protect and maintain communal spaces in Islington for community use".

The benefits to health and well-being provided by the needlessly-felled plane trees in Richmond Avenue are lost to the community for ever. Street trees take years to grow and are an invaluable asset to the community not only providing shade, cleaning our polluted air and improving the visual amenity of public space, but also contributing to the health and mental well-being of all residents.

Nothing can be done in the short term, to replace a pair of trees, thought to be a hundred and fifty years old, but perhaps Islington Council can commit to considering the fairness implications of spending council money to destroy community assets for the benefit of insurance companies and private householders?

Alternatives to the Cuts - meeting 22nd March

2011-03-25T17:43:00.000Z

In advance of the big March for the Alternative on Saturday, Camden, Haringey and Islington Green Parties held a public meeting in Archway, to encourage discussion of economic alternatives to the damaging Tory/Lib Dem cuts to essential public services.

Speakers and audience contributors agreed that it was essential the many anti-cuts groups battling to save individual services understood that there was a major structural problem in the British economy that needed to be dealt with, rather than feeling that they had to fight against others for shrinking public funding.

Natalie Bennett, chair of Camden Green Party, said that Britain was a wealthy country, which had lots of people living in poverty and poor public infrastructure. That situation had arisen through a failure to tax the wealthy and large corporations.

She said: “Throughout the Thatcher years taxation as a percentage of GDP was greater than 40%, but in 2009 that was 36%. ‘Corporate social responsibility’ shouldn’t be about staff having a fun day out painting a local community centre, but companies accepting the need to pay the tax they fairly owe. We can’t continue to see, for example, Barclays bank paying 1% tax in the UK on profits of more than £11 billion.”

Sue Hessel from Haringey Federation of Residents' Associations spoke about the NHS as “our biggest miracle”, saying it provided “the psychological magic of people feeling cared for”. She said that while public sector provision of services such as residential care homes might be marginally more expensive than private, this was due to better pay and conditions for staff and consequent greater stability for residents, something that was vital for the vulnerable.

She noted how before 2000 it had been assumed that NHS services would be provided by the public sector, but the new health bill allowed for “any willing provider”, which might soon only mean the private sector. “I worry 2011 will be seen as a watershed year,” she said. “We need to stop the train leaving the station.”

Lydia Prieg of the New Economics Foundation outlined the many faults in our current banking system. She described London’s banking regulation as looser than that of the US and said attempts to deal with the “too big to fail” problem were regarded by many commentators as inadequate. She added: “Large banks are effectively getting a subsidy when borrowing on the market. All the participants understand they can’t default, so they get cheaper rates and smaller institutions can’t compete.”

Arianna Tassinari, incoming co-chair of the SOAS students’ association, said British students were facing the most expensive fees in Europe. “As a society do we value education as a public good?”

Camden Green Party Councillor Maya de Souza, said councils could make savings, for instance marginally reducing all workers hours could save jobs and services, avoiding large redundancy costs and the misery of unemployment for many.

With the March for the Alternative tomorrow, we have a chance to show the government and communities across the country that the cuts are not inevitable and there needs to be another way. If you want to save your library you need to recognise that you are part of a wider movement towards a different society in which the better-off will make a fair contribution.

Parking, fairness & health - will the Council join the dots?

2011-02-10T13:04:00.001Z

For a Council engaged in a Fairness commission, Islington is doing a strange job of ignoring the impact of its policies on health inequality. Last Aug, prompted by the revelation that Islington has the sixth worst air quality in London, Islington Green Party encouraged residents to respond to the Mayor's consultation on Transport policy, telling him to maintain policies that decrease car use.

The Islington Gazette has just woken up to the impact of vehicle emissions related poor air quality in Islington - front page today and has made the link with the destructive new council parking schemes to increase the number of short trips by car in the borough. Reducing the number of cars on our densely congested roads creates a safer more pleasant street-scape, encourages walking & cycling and reduces the pollution in the air we are breathing.

The Council's Fairness Commission is meeting next week to discuss health inequality, but the discussion is confined to smoking, mental health and diet. By avoiding the elephants in the room that are increased car use, poor air quality and more sedentary lifestyles, the Commission is missing a whole raft of ways that the Council could support residents' health. Cancelling the residents' Roamer Parking scheme and the scheme for unlimited visitor parking vouchers would be an easy step to support residents to incorporate more active travel into their daily lives and to improve the quality of the air we breathe.

Recycling follow up

2011-02-09T23:48:00.000Z

Last November the Islington Gazette reported that the Council was going to introduce compulsory recycling. We were delighted that Islington were minimising rubbish sent to landfill but felt that a "carrot not stick" approach would be more successful - see my letter to the Gazette.

It looks as if the Council may have listened. I arrived home this afternoon to find a motivational message attached to my food waste recycling box, thanking me for recycling and encouraging me to continue. Praise where praise is due, well done Islington.

Cuts and Consultation

2011-02-08T21:54:00.008Z

In December 2010, news reports suggested that jobs were under threat at Islington's Ecology Centre and Gillespie Park local nature reserve.

The Friends of Gillespie Park have been around for as long as the Park itself - 25 years this year. The park exists because of a community campaign to 'save the sidings' which resulted in the park - then a railway siding- being transferred to the Council for just one pound, for the benefit of the community.

The Friends have been pressing the Council to tell them what is proposed for the park and Ecology Centre, amidst fears that job cuts could make the park less safe. But the new Executive member for the Environment, Paul Smith, failed even to answer their emails.

When the draft budget was published, it showed £750,000 being slashed from the sustainability budget, which includes the Ecology Centre.

On Tuesday, at an emergency meeting with the Friends and concerned local residents, the Council was again pressed to consult the Friends on what was proposed. The response from the new Council leader, Catherine West, was that the Council could 'no longer afford' to consult people - it was, she said, too expensive.

But consultation doesn't need to mean glossy brochures or expensive consultants. Consultation simply means talking to the people involved at an early stage when all the options are still on the table, and taking their thoughts into account when you reach your view. Done properly, in a case like this, it will probably cost nothing at all - and the Friends' twenty-five years knowledge and experience of the Park will be invaluable in finding suitable ways to safeguard it now for future generations to enjoy.

I'm glad to say that Council officers have now agreed to meet the Friends to explore the options. With any luck this will be a constructive process and the decisions ultimately reached will be the best that they can be in the difficult circumstances we are now facing.

Trees for all!

2011-02-02T19:17:00.006Z

Recent reports that street trees could fall victim to cuts were brought a step closer to home when I attended Islington Council's Overview Committee to listen to a debate about the new Tree Policy.

The new administration is determined to tear up the work done by the previous administration (their political opponents) and by local residents, and has reduced the trees policy to just 2 pages.

Cllr Paul Smith is the new (Labour party) executive member for the environment. His speech to the committee on trees was revealing. Cllr Smith believes that while trees 'may be a big issue in the more fortunate parts of the Borough', they are not a big issue elsewhere - for example, on council estates.

But is this right? Surely, people living in areas of greater social deprivation are the ones who need trees the most - and who suffer most when their physical environment is degraded. People living in cramped accommodation, without gardens, rely on access to parks and other green spaces. And the majority of residents in the Borough who don't have cars can't easily drive further afield to enjoy the benefits for their health, wellbeing, and peace of mind offered by our forests. Most of all, isn't it patronising to assume that people only worry about trees if they are middle class?

Cllr Smith told us last night that in these straitened financial times we couldn't afford to be spending 'lots of money on paper'. Well, we'd certainly agree that lengthy documents are a waste of paper (and trees) - and the previous policy (at 69 pages) was rather wordy - but I'm not sure that cuts in the Council budget should mean any lesser degree of protection for our trees (especially now that we can ill afford to replace them).

Today, the Council has published its budget proposals for the coming year. There's a lot of detail there which we're only just beginning to analyse, but they've already announced that tree officers will be lost.

And on top of that a whopping 3/4 of a million pounds will be wiped off the sustainability budget. Apparently, the Council plans to "realign sustainability priorities to energy efficiency and resident focus". It also plans to use the Ecology Centre to provide "services in line with [the] fairness agenda". If I find out what that means, I'll let you know!

Reaction to final planning decision for the former National Children's Home site at 85 Highbury Park from Caroline Allen

2010-10-17T21:21:00.004+01:00

Caroline Allen attended the planning meeting last week where Islington Council granted permission for Action for Children to build on the mature gardens at 85 Highbury Park. This is the full text of her letter to the local press:

Having just attended the planning meeting, along with other members of Islington Green Party and local residents, I must write to express our deep disappointment at the decision to approve the development of Action for Children's former National Childrens' Home site at 85 Highbury Park in its current form, in spite of the failures to meet the planning brief.

The plans had been referred back to look at the two areas where the brief had not been met. On the first point regarding the proportion of affordable housing, a 5% increase was achieved, which we welcomed. However there had seemingly been no attempt at all to address the second point, requiring the mature grassland (known as “The Field”) to be retained in its entirety.

Katie Dawson of Islington Green Party was applauded for her passionate speech opposing the plans, reminding us how local campaigns had saved Gillespie Park and Barnsbury Wood from developers and that these were now much loved community green spaces. Could the same not be done for the ancient grassland at NCH? Islington Green Party has campaigned long and hard on this issue, commissioning surveys by the independent bodies London Wildlife Trust and London Natural History Society to examine the land. Experts from both organizations confirmed that the site has great ecological value as an example of pre-urban grassland, and is very rare in Islington, and indeed London. Had it not been privately owned it would be a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation and therefore protected from development. This is now lost forever. The proposal to transplant a tiny fragment of the grassland into an artificially landscaped area within the development just shows how little the councillors understand about conservation and biodiversity.

Particularly ludicrous, was the input of Councillor Kelly, who seemed to suggest that any opponents of this scheme did not support affordable housing in Islington. It seems wilfully simple-minded to look at the need for more social housing and the need to protect our green spaces as an “either/or” choice. Would Cllr Kelly like to build affordable housing on Gillespie Park or fell the trees of Barnsbury Wood to provide more social housing? The wonderful opportunity of the NCH site was that it offered ample space to provide housing and preserve this natural treasure for future generations.

Councillors on the planning committee have now established a dangerous precedent: ignore the planning brief on two points and you’ll get away with one; maybe try four and you’ll get away with two. How ironic that in 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity, Islington Council and Action for Children have chosen to destroy this ecologically rich and irreplaceable natural gem.

Caroline Allen, Islington Green Party

Residents turn out to the "Save the Secret Garden" planning meeting

2010-09-12T22:56:00.010+01:00

Last Tuesday, residents turned out in force to demonstrate to Councillors the strength of feeling over the Action for Children planning application at 85 Highbury Park.

The new centralised Planning Committee voted to defer the planning decision for a month and have invited the developers to meet the conditions of the planning brief. Specifically 50% affordable housing rather than the 40% in the proposals.

We now have a month to lobby Councillors to meet a second condition of the planning brief , namely "retention of the mature gardens in their entirety". The developers have massively downplayed the significance of the grassland in the Islington context. Councillor Klute raised the example of Barnsbury Wood, which is similarly hidden behind buildings and is retained as a nature reserve with some public access. The hope is that the scheme can be improved to deliver both 50% affordable housing, which is desperately needed in Islington along with a design that allows this rare and valuable grassland to be retained and enjoyed by future generations.

Thank you

2010-05-21T13:12:00.007+01:00

"Don't forget, Katie made history and left a signature on the Council. So nothing went to waste!" (Highbury resident)

It's taken me a while to write this post, but I just wanted to thank all the voters in Highbury West who backed Katie Dawson on May 6th - over two thousand of you, double the number who voted for Katie last time. As you'll all know by now, sadly that wasn't enough to get Katie re-elected, but we do want you all to know how much we value your support. We also want you to know that we in Islington Green Party will continue to fight for what we believe in - albeit, for the time being, as members of the community rather than with our own distinctive voice on the Council.

I'd also like to thank the many Highbury residents who have got in touch by phone, text, and e-mail with very kind messages of support and thanks for Katie's hard work over the last four years. Those messages mean a huge amount to us.

The political picture in Islington has changed a lot: not only are Labour, rather than the Lib Dems, in control of the council - but unlike in the past four years, there is no close balance between the parties. The overwhelming dominance of one party makes it more important than ever for those of us on the outside to hold the administration to account. We will aim to shine a light on unfairness, injustice, and environmentally damaging behaviour by those charged with running our Borough wherever it occurs.

That work of holding the Council to account started a bit sooner than expected this week when the new Labour administration took the decision, without any consultation or prior announcement, to abolish local planning committees and centralise all planning decisions. This undemocratic move means our local green spaces, including those at the Secret Garden and the Sobell Centre, are at risk of inappropriate development as never before. The fight goes on!

Our first Green MP!

2010-05-11T12:08:00.005+01:00

The last few days have been an extraordinary emotional roller-coaster. We've lost a councillor and gained an MP (in Brighton!) And we still don't know who will be forming the next Government or what role the Green Party will play.

In Islington North we obtained the fifth highest Green general election result in London; thank you very, very much to all of you who supported me.

As a first-time Parliamentary candidate, I've had a lot to learn - and loads more that I still don't know. But I've loved every minute of it, and I'm eager to do more.

A few people have suggested it's time for a rest - but first I need to honour a few promises I made in the course of the campaign. One thing I promised was to continue with the community campaign to save the Whittington, holding to account whoever forms the next Government (and the one after that!) So I was there at the DWHC meeting last night brainstorming ideas about how to do just that.

Vote for Policies!

2010-05-05T22:05:00.007+01:00

Thank you to all of you who have been following our campaign over the last couple of months. It's been really, really exciting and rewarding - and for me as Parliamentary Candidate a huge privilege to be able to represent the Green Party, and its radical policies, in Islington North.

As Greens we often find that we start the electoral race with one hand tied behind our backs for two reasons: first, because people feel that a vote for us won't really count and secondly, because people aren't too sure whether we have good policies outside the environmental field.

But in this exciting general election campaign, we have been able to address both those concerns head-on.

Every Green vote really will count this time, because for the first time in living memory people are getting serious about the need for electoral reform. When it comes to putting pressure on whoever forms the next Government to introduce truly proportional representation, the Green Party will need to argue that its total number of votes nationally means that it should no longer be shut out by the voting system. The strength of that argument depends crucially on the total number of votes cast for the Green Party across all the constituencies where it has candidates. If we can't make that argument, there's a real danger that this once-in-a-generation opportunity will either be missed altogether (under the Tories or a Tory/Lib Dem pact) or will simply be used to create an exclusive 3-party system to replace the existing exclusive 2-party system (by the introduction of the Alternative Vote system under Labour or a Lab/Lib Dem pact).

So, this is one general election where you can vote for what you believe in and be a catalyst for real change.

As for our policies, don't take my word for it - go and have a look at the truly fantastic Votes for Policies website. Over 260,000 people have now completed their survey, which lets you pick the best policies without knowing which party they come from. Last time I looked, the Green Party was the clear winner nationally - and even here in the traditional Labour heartland of Islington North, it was neck-and-neck between me and Jeremy Corbyn based on a sample of over 600 people.

So tomorrow, please do vote for what you believe in. In 2010 more than ever before, every single Green vote counts.

PS And as we've often said before, however you decide to vote in the General Election, please vote Green in the Council elections to help Katie Dawson keep her seat on Islington Council - and hopefully to elect some more Green councillors so we can achieve even more.

Highbury East hustings

2010-05-04T12:36:00.005+01:00

My last hustings of the campaign, last night (Bank Holiday Monday), was at Highbury Roundhouse. The Roundhouse, on Ronalds Road, is a great community facility which I and my three kids have used a lot over the years, and which provides excellent services for older people too.

The hustings was all about Highbury issues - and three out of the four parties* managed to field Highbury candidates to answer them!

We faced a range of challenging questions on issues from the Council's tree policy to the rumoured threat to the Highbury Barn Tavern (the word on the street is that there are plans to turn it into a Sainsbury's local); and from rat-running down Fieldway Crescent to the possible reintroduction of a Citizens' Advice Bureau in Islington and the future of the excellent Islington Law Centre. We were also quizzed on broader policy issues such as improving secondary schools; the need for investment in social housing; and the erosion of local democracy.

Thank you very much to William Ellington (Chair of the Roundhouse), Victoria Ellington (Management Committee) and Andrew Berthier (Director) for inviting me; to Nicky Anderson (Pensioners' Worker) for providing the refreshments; and to Martin Jones (Highbury Fields Association) for chairing the hustings and giving us all a chance to have our say!

*The speakers were as follows: Conservative - Neil Lindsay (Highbury East); Lib Dem - Terry Stacey (Highbury East); Green Party - Emma Dixon (Highbury East); Labour - Catherine West (Tollington).

Whittington Rally Today

2010-04-29T19:22:00.015+01:00

Thank you very much to the Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition for having me to speak at their rally today.

As I told the audience outside the hospital, whatever the results of the general and local elections on May 6th, we in the Green Party will be there on May 7th to hold the new government to account on the Whittington.

And elected Greens everywhere - including (fingers crossed) one or more Green MPs in the House of Commons for the first time ever - will continue to oppose privatisation of the NHS in all its forms. Keep our NHS public!

PS The Labour party issued a new pronouncement today (a week before the election) on the future of the Whittington. While this is being trumpeted as the hospital being 'saved', local people, who have already endured months of uncertainty, still don't quite know where they stand. According to the Labour health minister it is for 'clinicians' to say whether the A&E and maternity units should close. But which clinicians? While consultants at the Whittington have come out against the closures, Royal Colleges speaking on behalf of two-thirds of doctors today called for mass closures of A&E and children's departments in order to achieve the £20 billion cuts which Labour and the Tories say are required. We in the Green Party will be watching very carefully indeed to see how things develop after the election.

Voluntary Action Islington Hustings

2010-04-28T13:45:00.004+01:00

An early start yesterday morning, as Voluntary Action Islington (formerly IVAC) were holding their hustings at 8.30am!

Pictured here are (L to R) Richard Bunting (Islington Conservatives), Catherine West (leader of Islington Council Labour group), me (Emma Dixon) and Terry Stacy (Lib Dem leader of Islington Council).

The hustings were a great opportunity for me to find out more about the challenges faced by the third sector in Islington, and to express my support for their excellent manifesto.

At this time of threatened cuts to the public sector, the Green Party has pledged both locally and nationally that we will protect front-line services - and that is equally, if not more, important where those services are provided by the third sector.

And for those of you who weren't at the hustings - you can catch up on who said what via Voluntary Action Islington's live Twitter feed!

Have you received your postal vote?

2010-04-28T08:31:00.000+01:00

If you are registered to vote by post, you should have received your ballot papers by now.

If you haven't received your ballot papers, you should contact the Council's electoral services department on 020 7527 2000 or email electoral.services@islington.gov.uk

Don't miss out on your chance to re-elect Katie Dawson and elect more Green councillors in Highbury West and Highbury East.

If you have received your ballot papers - don't forget to cast (and post!) your votes.

A trip down memory lane

2010-04-21T21:50:00.008+01:00

I've got three scrapbooks at home full of press cuttings about wonderful stuff that we have done since Katie Dawson was elected to the Council. I am prone to getting them out and making guests look through them - the political equivalent of holiday photos.. Anyway, this blog post is the electronic equivalent of that - some of the great, and funny, moments of the last four years since the election of Islington's first Green councillor, and my good friend, Katie.

Here, with a lovely photo of election night, is the Gazette in May 2006 when Katie was elected, suggesting that the Greens held the balance of power on the Council. Sadly, we didn't - quite - at that stage, as (rather unfairly!) the Lib Dems (with 24 members against Labour's 23 and our one) got to choose the Mayor - and the Mayor has the casting vote.

Trees have been a big issue over the years, including some 'killer pear' trees which eventually featured on the pages of the Evening Standard (and even the Daily Mail); I'm pleased to say our campaign to save the trees succeeded and the residents now harvest the fruit and make it into jam and even pear liqueur!

On a more serious note, Katie has worked year in and year out to stand up for residents against big property developers (including Arsenal) seeking to squeeze ever-bigger developments into Highbury without the necessary infrastructure (eg schools, doctors' surgeries, public transport) to cope with them. Islington is the borough with the least green space per head of population anywhere in Britain, and the situation in Katie's ward (Highbury West) is even worse, with the smallest amount of play space in any ward in Islington. Despite this, we have had to battle hard to prevent developers being allowed to concrete over the few remaining areas of green land - and, sad to say, with only one councillor among 48 we have not always succeeded.

There have been some bizarre moments too - Katie's been quoted in the press over the years on a variety of subjects from freshly-slaughtered polar bears to dominatrix shoes .. but I'll leave you to track those down for yourself!

So - after that whistlestop tour of my virtual scrapbook - what's the verdict at the end of Katie's first four years? Well, far be it from me to trumpet our successes: the last word goes to the Islington Gazette, which last week reported on ... Katie's Green revolution!

Photos from today's campaign launch

2010-04-21T21:41:00.006+01:00

Above - Green Councillor Katie Dawson with our Islington manifesto. Below - the campaign launch, in the sunshine, outside Drayton Park station.

Remember, however you decide to vote in the general election on 6th May, vote Green in Highbury in the Council elections on the same day to keep an independent, strong Green voice on the Council. You can read more about the amazing amount our Green councillor, Katie Dawson, has been able to achieve here. As we always say, every Green vote really does count!

Manifesto Launch

2010-04-21T10:17:00.011+01:00

Just arrived in the office after the launch of Islington Green Party's manifesto for the Council elections down on Drayton Park. It was wonderful to see everybody - and great that passing drivers honked their horns to show their support!

The manifesto sets out ten reasons to vote Green in Islington, but maybe we should add an eleventh - the wonderful photographs illustrating our beautiful borough! Huge thanks to our amazing photographer Maria Jefferis for that.

We all left the launch buzzing with excitement - a really great start to the day. Thank you to all our candidates, activists and supporters for making this happen.

Islington Pensioners Forum Hustings

2010-04-19T11:57:00.008+01:00

I went to my first hustings of the Parliamentary campaign on Thursday. After a couple of tense hours preparing in the back room of Euphorium opposite the Town Hall, I took to the platform together with the Parliamentary candidates from the three other parties.

I'm happy to report that I was given a really warm welcome by the Pensioners' Forum - special thanks to its chair, George Durack, for that. There was a lively debate on issues ranging from the Olympics to renationalising the railways!

You can read all about our policies for pensioners in our Pledge for Older People, but here's a taster. The Green Party would end means testing for pensioners' benefits. Means testing is not working - there is currently £2.9 billion of unclaimed Council Tax benefit for pensioners - and it's unfair. We would introduce a Citizens' Pension of £170 per week (a figure supported by the National Pensioners' Convention) for all, irrespective of contribution record. Our proposals are fully costed, and the increase would be funded by progressive taxation and scrapping wasteful expenditure on (for example) Trident and ID cards.

Once I'd got over the first night nerves I ended up really enjoying the hustings - in fact I'm looking forward to the next one already!

Our Party Election Broadcast

2010-04-17T16:40:00.005+01:00

For those of you haven't seen it yet, here's the Green Party's excellent Party Election Broadcast. Should you feel so inclined, you can create your own personalised version too!

And while I'm catching up on national party stuff, just a reminder that our manifesto was launched this week and you can download that from the national party website.

Right, I'm off for a quick rest while the rest of the family are out leafletting!

Highbury's going Green - be part of it!

2010-04-17T16:13:00.012+01:00

This weekend we took delivery of a consignment of eye-catching "estate agent" style boards which we'll be putting up across Islington.

While I was carrying the wooden posts into the house, a young couple who were passing stopped me and asked if they could have one for their front garden. The guy marched off, with the sign (on a seven foot pole!) under his arm. It made my day!

Our leafletters will be out too this weekend - look out for the latest copy of Highbury Green News, on jobs, apprenticeships and education.

Thanks to everyone who's helping out, including those of you who have got in touch with Islington Green Party via the website by email to offer your time and effort on our behalf. And speaking of the website, don't forget you can download a window poster there too!

"What About Women?"

2010-04-17T15:49:00.008+01:00

"What about women?" is the Fawcett Society's brilliant General Election campaign. As a Fawcett Society member, and sometime wearer of their lovely 'This is what a feminist looks like' t-shirt, I was absolutely thrilled this morning to receive my Election Special copy of the Fawcett magazine Stopgap. In the centre pages, the Fawcett's very own Leaders' Debate - with one very important difference! The first of the four leaders profiled is our very own Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party. As Caroline says,

as the only party with a female leader .. the Green Party has shown that we put our principles into practice. So when we say equality for all, we mean it.

My own interest in politics started with campaigning on women's issues, and human rights, back in my student days. Later, I wanted to see politicians getting serious about protecting the environment too. The really exciting thing for me is that the Green Party brings it all together. Fairness is not just part of the Green Party slogan - it's the common thread linking together gender equality, human rights, and the need to give everyone an equal share in the world's resources - now and in future generations.

Breaking news from Mumsnet!

2010-03-26T14:35:00.006Z

Here's some breaking news from Islington Green Party...

Green Party leader Caroline Lucas today became the first leader of a national political party to give a commitment to save the Whittington A&E and maternity units.

In a live webchat on Mumsnet, the country’s most popular meeting point for parents on the internet, this afternoon (Friday 26 March), Dr Lucas committed:

-to halt with immediate effect the current process to close the Whittington A&E and maternity and ensure that all future plans are evidence-based, transparent, made publicly available and subject to extensive and meaningful public consultation
-not to close any A&E and maternity unit in North London until alternatives are firmly in place, have been sufficiently tested and proven by independent analysis not to have any averse effect on the treatment of patients

Sara Hall, expectant mother and local campaigner who is the author of the ‘Whittingtonmum’ blog, said:

"It is fantastic that Caroline Lucas has given us her commitment to halt the current proposals to close the 24-hour A&E and maternity services at the Whittington hospital. Local people are dismayed by the proposals: They are not based on evidence, not led by clinicians and not transparent. They must be stopped. I hope that Nick Clegg, Gordon Brown and David Cameron will follow the lead of Caroline Lucas and assure us, the residents of North London, that they will not allow our lives to be put at risk. We need their commitment to not close the Whittington A&E and maternity services should their party form the next government – our lives depend on it.”

Emma Dixon, Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for Islington North added:

“Politicians from all four parties locally have been working really hard to save the Whittington. Now it’s time for the party leaders to make it clear where they stand. Voters will want to know before the election what their votes will mean for the Whittington.”

Winkball

2010-03-22T13:26:00.008Z

Click here to see the video wall

A few weeks ago I had the rather unnerving experience of recording a video interview for Winkball who are aiming to record video messages from all the 2010 general election candidates.

Winkball's slogan is 'communicate happiness' - perhaps rather a tall order when screening a lot of politicians telling us how wonderful they are! Anyway, my Labour and Lib Dem opposite numbers have now recorded their contributions so you can have a look and see what you think. We'll let you know if and when the Conservative candidate has a go!

A Million Voices for Public Services

2010-03-22T12:29:00.008Z

I recently signed up to Unison's excellent campaign, A Million Voices for Public Services. Celebrities including Jo Brand and Ken Livingstone as well as hundreds of ordinary people are speaking up for local public services now - before it's too late.

There are real, credible alternatives to cuts and privatisation of public services - like a Robin Hood tax on banks and financial institutions, and measures to make our tax system fairer by ending tax avoidance by the very wealthy. Economists and the IMF are warning that large cuts now could push the economy back into recession. And Britain is one of only two G20 countries which is not planning a fiscal stimulus - investment in job creation to boost the economy - this year. In France for example, the government has set up a huge investment fund to stimulate the growth that can bring jobs. And we in the Green Party have set out our plan for creating a million jobs through investment in renewable energy, housing, public transport and social care.

We're already seeing threatened cuts to local health services at the Whittington. But cuts could hit people performing all kinds of other vital local public servies, from lollipop ladies to police community support officers, from school cooks to hospital porters. Please add your voice to Unison's campaign today!

Cllr Donna Boffa - a tribute

2010-03-21T14:08:00.001Z

The sad death of Cllr Donna Boffa on Friday, following a long illness, is one of those moments when we are reminded of the dedication of all those who take time out of their own busy lives to serve their community. It is a time to pay tribute to all those who work tirelessly for others, as Donna did.

We are about to start the election campaign which will decide who runs Islington for the next four years. Candidates from all parties will try to highlight their own party's achievements and claim credit for the things that are going right in Islington, while attempting not to recognise the contribution made by activists from other parties. But underneath the confrontational facade that is electoral politics in Britain, there will be over 200 individuals offering themselves to their community to spend four years as their representatives in the Council chamber.

Most of those individuals will not be elected, but many of them will continue to work for their communities - day in, day out - as Donna Boffa did for years before she became a councillor. As we begin this election campaign, let's take a moment to remember Donna and to celebrate the commitment that she made and hundreds of others continue to make to communities across Islington.

Highbury Green News, Safer Streets for Blackstock Road

2010-03-21T14:08:00.000Z

We had a large team out yesterday delivering the new edition of Highbury Green News and we'll be out again today, so look out for it on your doormat.

Thanks to all the volunteers (some of whom are pictured, right) who helped.

Meanwhile, some of us were out collecting even more signatures on our petition to make sure that Blackstock Road, Highbury Park and Highbury Grove are included in the borough-wide 20-mile-an-hour zone.

The Council adopted Cllr Katie Dawson's plan to become the country's first 20-mile-an-hour borough earlier in the year, but they've excluded some roads including Blackstock Road, Highbury Park and Highbury Grove.

Given that there are four primary schools, two secondary schools and two important shopping areas on this stretch of road - not to mention the hundreds of people who live here - we're getting great support for our campaign to bring the benefits of safer of streets to this part of the borough.

Gordon's Mothers Day Promises

2010-03-18T19:08:00.009Z

On mothers' day, Gordon Brown went online with Netmums to make a series of 'promises'.

The first was that maternity services 'should definitely remain a priority'. But the reality is that health cuts of £4 billion this year, with the Treasury looking for a further £10 billion cuts thereafter, are already leading to the closure of maternity units across London. Just last week the general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives warned that these closures, driven by financial considerations, would lead to 'large and impersonal' birth 'factories'. And here in Islington, the Whittington hospital's maternity unit is threatened with closure despite having been rated one of the safest places in Britain to give birth.

Brown's second promise of a right to a home birth for anyone who wants one is similarly unachievable: home births can only happen with the support of a nearby hospital from which midwives can travel with potentially life-saving equipment for mother and baby, including oxygen. (I should know - I had two babies at home with the help of Whittington midwives!)

If Gordon Brown is serious about gaining mothers' votes, he should start by guaranteeing the future of vital local health services. NHS officials have recently confirmed at a meeting of Islington Council's North Area Committee that Ministers could save the Whittington now if they chose. Enough warm words - it's time for action!

Graph Fix!

2010-03-18T10:15:00.011Z

Graph abuse. We've seen it before and no doubt we'll see it again, but when the Lib Dem leaflet pictured right popped through letterboxes in Highbury East this week even we seasoned local election campaigners gulped a bit. According to the leaflet it's a 'two-horse race' between the Lib Dems and Labour in my ward.

I'm a mathematician by training and maybe for that reason I am a bit sensitive about this sort of thing. Squashing or expanding the odd column (as the Lib Dems have done here and elsewhere) is bad enough - but missing one party off altogether reaches a new low.

Here's the true vote in Highbury East last time.

As far as we're concerned, Highbury East is a four-horse race, which any of the parties could win if they gain the electorate's confidence. I for one don't believe that graph abuse is the way to do it.

PS if you have access to a scanner, please do add any election leaflets that come through your door to the collection of The Straight Choice, the live election leaflet monitoring project. One aim of that project is to try to keep these leaflets honest!

London Council Candidates launch today

2010-03-15T14:50:00.013Z

Green Council candidates gathered this morning for photographs and interviews with a BBC local news team on the Millennium Bridge. After lining up along the bridge for a tracking shot, I had the chance to meet Jenny Jones, Green London Assembly member who has done so much for road safety in London.

Councillor Katie Dawson spoke about Green achievements in Islington, in particular the soon to be implemented 20 mph speed limits on every residential road not currently covered by a 20 mph zone. Interestingly even the Evening Standard is beginning to understand the benefits of slower moving traffic.

In a Standard article today, Amsterdam is promoted as "the cycling capital of the world" and Dutch experts say "Boris must do more to stop cyclists being killed". Any roads in Amsterdam without segregated cycle lanes have an 18 mph speed limit. Let's hope Boris works it out soon; he just has to take the Islington approach and extend 20 mph limits across the capital to make London safer and more civilised for pedestrians and cyclists.

Don't $ell the $obell

2010-03-13T19:32:00.012Z

I must admit it's taken me a while to get round to blogging about our day with Cllr Adrian Ramsay, the Green Party deputy leader and one of our hopes for gaining an MP at the General Election (in Norwich South). He came down last Friday to see what we'd been up to here in Islington after hearing Caroline Lucas's praise for Cllr Katie Dawson in her speech to conference.

One of the places we took Adrian to visit was the Sobell Centre. Our Don't $ell the $obell campaign is fighting to keep the whole Sobell site in public ownership for sport and recreational use, against the wishes of both Labour and Lib Dem councillors. The Sobell is also where some of the programme of free sport for Islington's teenagers - another initiative by Cllr Katie in last year's budget - happens.

After the Sobell, it was off for a delicious lunch - soup and cheese toasties at Good for Food on the Blackstock Road.

Huge thanks to Adrian for coming down - and we all enjoyed listening to him on The World at One a few days later talking about the high-speed rail link!

Photo L to R: Caroline Russell (Green Party team, Highbury West), Lee Warsame (Sobell User Rep), Cllr Adrian Ramsay (Green Party Deputy Leader), Barry Hill (Sobell User Rep), Cllr Katie Dawson.

A minute for mothers

2010-03-12T19:39:00.016Z

Just back from the House of Commons where Councillor Katie and I had a lovely time drinking tea in the Members' Dining Room and listening to the amazing Annie Lennox speak in support of Save the Children's A Minute for Mothers campaign. We each laid a white rose outside the Houses of Parliament to symbolise the lives lost each day by mothers during pregnancy and childbirth.

After the speeches I managed to shake Annie Lennox by the hand and thank her for her public support for the Green Party. She told me she always votes Green because it's what she believes in.

Annie's message to us when we told her that Greens were on track to elect our first MP this year in Brighton? "Go Girls!!"

Photo by Richard Stonehouse, Stonehouse Photographic www.stonehousephotographic.com

Excellent Climate Change web advert

2010-03-10T08:23:00.003Z

The really great LabourStart is running a video of the year and has a great video on climate change that shows the global impact of this problem.

To see the video (and other entrants) click here

And I'm not saying what I voted for...

Belonging to a Tribe

2010-03-09T20:33:00.004Z

So, I'm looking out of my window and I can see the lights of the Emirates stadium shine brightly in the distance and I begin to think about a posting Caroline Lucas put up on her blog at the weekend.

Caroline asks what it would take for voters to switch after a lifetime of support for a party.

Coming from a family of Arsenal supporters, the idea of switching to Spurs is not worth thinking about, but what if Arsenal decided to become a rugby team? Could I say that I supported them as my football team?

Under Labour, the gap between rich and poor has grown, bankers are still able to reward themselves with huge bonuses and the NHS is being privatised through the backdoor. This isn't the fairness that the party originally stood for and I thought it was about time I voted for one that did.

I decided to make a switch and to vote for a party that really believes in fairness.

Save The Secret Garden Press

2010-03-04T22:09:00.005Z

Just done a round up of all the local press coverage so far for Transition Highbury who are interested in helping our campaign to Save the Secret Garden. Thought it would be useful to provide links to to everything in one post.

http://bit.ly/a4su1B letter to Tribune re application withdrawn 26 Feb 2010

http://bit.ly/cJqjAt Tribune coverage botanist Mark Spencer 26 Feb 2010

http://bit.ly/baGVDh Islington Gazette coverage 10th Dec 1009

http://bit.ly/dCHeH0 Letter to Islington Tribune 6th November 2009

http://bit.ly/9oAhND Islington Tribune coverage 23rd October 2009

Save the Secret Garden!

2010-03-03T16:46:00.005Z

We've been campaigning for a while now to save this precious gem, a hidden area of rare grassland in the heart of Highbury at the NCH/Action for Children site on Highbury Park. The garden, which has never been built on, lies between Lucerne Rd, Legard Rd and Avenell Mansions and has been subject to a planning application which would build 149 housing units at the site, destroying the grassland forever.

Recently we had the good news that the planning application is being withdrawn. Action for Children are now considering what changes to make before resubmitting it.

This week I'll be writing to Dame Clare Tickell, Action for Children's Chief Executive, inviting her to rework the proposals so as to preserve the grassland at the site in its entirety, for example as a nature reserve.

Action for Children have said they want to leave a legacy for Highbury. That legacy is staring them in the face!

Green Party Leader backs Whittington Campaign!

2010-03-01T21:54:00.003Z

Green Party Spring conference this year was held in North London - at the Arts Depot in Finchley. Green Party leader Caroline Lucas (pictured here with our Islington North PPC Emma Dixon, right) took time out from the conference schedule to pledge her support to the campaign to save the Whittington Hospital A&E and Maternity Unit.

Now we're just waiting for Gordon Brown and David Cameron to do the same!

Whittington March press coverage

2010-03-01T18:42:00.000Z

The Islington Gazette has this picture of Katie Dawson, Highbury's Green Councillor, on the Defend the Whittington A&E march with Camden Green Councillor Maya de Souza in the background.

The Camden New Journal has a round up from people who were on Saturday's march to save the Whittington A&E - including our very own Emma Dixon.

And this week's Gazette carried Emma's letter making it clear that the planned closure is a direct result of Labour government policy.

Whittington March on Saturday

2010-03-01T15:49:00.004Z

My children were up early on Saturday morning making banners. I was supposed to be preparing my speech for the rally but I ended up on my hands and knees on the kitchen floor painting a black cat on my daughter's banner (James pictured here putting the finishing touches with a needle & thread). Then off to Highbury Corner in the rain..

It was lovely to see so many different people on the march - people from local churches & mosques; from community groups like the Highgate Society; and lots of local residents of all ages from 0 to 104. The Routemaster and the lovely jazz band gave the march a bit of a carnival atmosphere.

There's been a hospital at the Whittington since 1473. It's been part of the NHS since the NHS was born in 1948. Two-thirds of its patients are admitted through A&E, so without it the hospital would be decimated. Wards would stand empty and it might well be the first step to total closure.

The proposal to close the maternity unit is equally worrying. It's been rated one of the safest places in Britain to have your baby. On a personal note, wonderful Whittington midwives helped deliver our two sons!

It's great that all political parties locally are behind the coalition to defend the Whtitington(http://dwhc.org.uk/) but we do need to be clear that this proposal is the responsibility of the Government, which is implementing the report of Lord Darzi (a Labour minister) advocating centralisation of health services. Just last week the FT reported that the Health budget has been slashed by £4 billion. Let's take this fight to Government!

Your Highbury Green Team

2010-03-01T14:48:00.000Z

The Green Party team for the local elections on 6th May consists of Cllr Katie Dawson and local campaigners Jon Nott and Caroline Russell in Highbury West ward. In Highbury East ward your Green candidates are Emma Dixon, James Humphreys and Andrew Myer.