Local LibDem councillor, Susan Buchanan, has backed plans for more flowers next year around Upper Street and the Angel.

Following Labour’s ‘Islington in gloom’ policy, councillors have now agreed to use some of the funding from the Premier Inn development in Parkfield Street to pay for the hanging baskets on lamp posts around the Angel and N1 Shopping Centre. The Angel Business Improvement District will pay for the flowers.

In 2003 the annual ‘Islington in Bloom’ competition was launched by the former Liberal Democrat council to bring some colour to the borough’s streets and estates. The council played its part by funding hanging baskets and flower boxes along the borough’s main roads and shopping parades such as Upper Street, Islington High Street, Islington Green and Cross Street to great effect. The competition went from strength to strength and Islington won first prize in the ‘London in Bloom’ competition and also became a runner-up nationally.

However, in a hugely controversial decision last year Labour councillors decided to axe the funding for the council’s hanging baskets and flower boxes despite requests from LibDems to scrap its resident magazine instead.

Councillor Susan Buchanan said: “I’m really pleased that funding has now been found to support more hanging baskets around Angel. The flowers and the ‘Islington in Bloom’ competition were hugely popular but were the first things for the chop in Labour council’s cuts. The flowers gave a lift in spirits that is even more essential in tough times.”

Work is now underway to renew the poor state of paving on the busy thoroughfare in front of Highbury  Magistrates Court on the Holloway Road. Thanks to pressure from your local LibDem Councillors who received complaints from residents about the dangerous paving in front of the Court, missing or broken paving stones and loose bricks lying around have posed a risk to residents especially those who are less mobile. These will now be replaced with a safer and smoother path. “The streets of St Mary’s are very heavily used and we need to ensure they are safe for all residents” said Susan. If you  know of any dangerous paving in the ward do let us know.

Last year Councillor Susan Buchanan visited several shops and businesses on the Essex Road distressed about the Council’s introduction of a bus lane between Cross Street and Canonbury Road. They understood the council had agreed in a consultation to install parking spaces for their customers and loading but these plans appear to have fallen by the wayside. They have complained of a 25% drop in trade.  Together with the council’s rise in the cost of parking permits and the present economic climate they are struggling to trade.

The plans seem intent on pushing traffic as hard and fast as possible down Islington main roads without due consideration to both residents and businesses. The Essex Road traders are complaining that loading and parking bays have been removed as have parking meters for customers and suppliers, a mishmash of confusing signs and over-zealous ticket wardens. They say the only businesses able to afford to cope with this situation are the large supermarkets and chains.  Some of these  shops and businesses have been around looking after the Islington community for well over 50 years.

Councillor Susan Buchanan said: “It is imperative that these popular Islington traders are protected as much as possible. They make up a vital part of Islington’s character and serve our local community well. Times are difficult enough for residents and local businesses and it certainly doesn’t help Islington’s economy to push these traders out. The council should listen and do everything it can to help and support them, not drive them out of business”.

Former Walkabout pub on Upper St now empty for two years

The streets of Islington are often punctuated with neglected eyesores where developers or leaseholders have invested in properties yet sit on them sometimes for many years without putting them into use. This leaves them prone to dilapidation and squatters. Cllr Susan Buchanan and local campainger Emily Fieran-Reed and share concerns about this happening.

Emily Fieran-Reed says “At a time when property of any kind is desperately short, we need to see buildings utilised and in action not boarded up on our streets.” Cllr Susan Buchanan has already requested details of such sites to ensure they are moving through the system and are not lying stagnant: “We have enough problems keeping the streets of Islington tidy without buildings themselves creating an eyesore”.

Crime has been a problem in Islington for many years but our Safer Neighbourhood Team comprising of residents, organisations and the police, work hard to improve the situation.

Mobile phone crime is a big issue at the moment with criminals literally swooping in on victims using  smart phones, they use bikes to aid their crime and to make a quick escape.

The recent spate of mindless ‘keying’ (car-scratching with keys) in St Mary’s streets drove residents to distraction with some people having to send their cars into repair several times. Councillor Susan Buchanan was contacted by many residents and relayed their concerns to the police, she then kept the residents updated on any progress. With the help of CCTV police now appear to have tackled this problem, I’ve been told an arrest has been made and the problem has abated.

Witness Confident
Crimes at all levels can impact on our lives creating frustration or fear. A charity ‘Witness Confident’ (see link on right) was launched in 2009. It includes an interactive Street Violence map where residents, witnesses and victims can log incidents in the area which can help connect crimes and mark those that may otherwise not be reported. http://www.witnessconfident.org/

St Mary’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team
The Metropolitan Police have a website with a special section on the St Mary’s Safer Neighbourheads Team. To keep updated with the latest problems and actions in your ward area visit: http://content.met.police.uk/Team/Islington/StMarys and download the priority report.

By now many residents will have met local resident Emily Fieran-Reed or one her colleagues on the doorstep. Emily is our Liberal Democrat candidate in the by-election in St Mary’s Ward taking place on 10 November 2011 following the resignation of a labour councillor.

• Emily is the only candidate who lives in the ward she has lived in Islington for 10 years and now lives on Upper Street in the heart of the ward
  
• she is experienced on ward issues as she was a Councillor in St Mary’s Ward and lost out by only 30 votes in the last election.
• Emily was a popular and very active local councillor who worked hard for the residents of  St Mary’s.
• as a qualified lawyer, Emily’s day-time job involves leading a team tackling anti-social behaviour and hate crime in another London Borough. Her expertise in dealing with antisocial behaviour is a valuable asset in tackling problems in St Mary’s Ward.
• also… Emily is an active parishioner at St John The Evangelist in Duncan Terrace. She was a Governor at Laycock School, sat on the Management Committee of St John’s Youth Club, worked at a local homeless shelter off Essex Road, and has been the Community Mental Health Champion for the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.

We are pleased to have the opportunity to bring her back to help the ward and remember that every vote counts. Emily is keen to know what your local issues and thoughts are so please email her at stmarysislington@aol.co.uk and let her know. For more information about Emily and her past work click here

Islington Council and the police have put into place a dispersal order in the Upper Street/Highbury Fields/Liverpool Road area to make it easier to tackle groups of young people congregating over the Halloween and Bonfire Night period. However there was no consultation with Councillors on where this order should operate. Cllr Susan Buchanan believes there should be a longer term solution to stop people’s lives becoming a misery: “There have been ongoing issues with antisocial behaviour in Laycock Gardens so I welcome the dispersal order to deal with the fireworks issue but this dispersal order leaves out lots of other areas affected by people throwing fireworks. Why is only one side of Upper Street covered? why is only half of Highbury Fields covered by it? hardly anyone living on estates will be protected. Both Cllr Susan Buchanan and her colleague Emily Fieran-Reed have worked on safety issues in these areas “Crime and anti-social behaviour is the number one issue locally and we are concerned that this problem may just be moved to across the road.”

Problems with groups of young people congregating outside one of our local health centres and park could soon be a thing of the past. Thanks to action from Cllr Susan Buchanan, who has been meeting regularly with the Safer Neighbourhoods Team, and liaising with local residents and organisations, there are now plans underway to address these issues. Residents in Laycock Street and on the Liverpool Road Estate have complained about cars pulling up, noise and music until 3am and litter left on the street, especially outside the medical centre. The police have now increased their patrols of this area and there are plans to limit the places that youths can congregate.

The medical centre will also receive new signage and sign-posting. Patients and visitors to the medical centre have complained that it is difficult to locate despite being the largest health centre in Islington.

“Residents have the right to live in peace and quiet without being disturbed until 3am in the morning.  It is a lovely street and residents enjoy using the space and facilities of Laycock Street gardens. These were recently newly-landscaped thanks to the work of Emily Fieran-Reed when she was a Councillor in the ward ”

Cllr Susan Buchanan and local campaigner Emily Fieran-Reed are keen to tackle environmental issues where they can.

“It is hugely important that residents and businesses are encouraged to recycle however we do not believe that the heavy-handed bin-snooping and fines adopted by the administration is the right approach.”

They have both as Councillors used part of their ward funds to install new recycling facilities in key areas for instance outside supermarkets on Upper Street and the Holloway Road. Recycling is popular and encouragement rather than enforcement is a more positive approach to the issue.

Residents contacted Councillor Susan Buchanan regarding the poor state of their pavements since the St Mary Magdalene Academy was developed, they had been left in a very poor state by lorries and vehicles mounting them.

“They were not in a great state before the works and afterwards far worse. With the entrance to the nursery school being on this side of the street, an accident was waiting to happen.”

Susan took these matters up with Homes for Islington, the council’s housing contractor, and they agreed to carry out repair works on the grounds of health and safety.  The result has made a huge difference to the appearance of the street and is safer.