CAB is my highlight
I hope you managed to use some of Islington’s wonderful local shops at Christmas, and maybe picked up some January sales bargains too! As our resident roamer celebrates its first year (offering free parking to Islington permit holders between 11am-3pm), it’s now even easier to support our hard working traders.
But for me the highlight of Upper Street isn’t one of our fantastic shops or restaurants – it’s our Citizens Advice Bureau. We promised to bring a CAB back to Islington and in April we fulfilled this pledge. I wish nobody in our community needed its services, but with government cuts biting hard, over 1,000 people are walking through its doors every single month for free, independent advice.
Last year, I wrote about the damage these government cuts would bring for Islington – for our families with less money in their pockets, for our young people struggling to find work and for our council services facing cuts of £100 million.
On the side of our residents
These are tough times, but we’re on the side of our community and determined to build a fairer Islington. We’re keeping all our libraries and children’s centres open, protecting our youth services, paying the London Living Wage, introducing 20 mph limits on all our roads and embarking on Islington’s biggest affordable house building programme for thirty years.
I fear 2012 will be even tougher as the next round of Government cuts bite and the recession these cuts are causing becomes deeper. But we’ll continue to stand up for our community – introducing new services to tackle anti-social behaviour, electing the first Youth Mayor and Council, opening new facilities for our young people and announcing new apprenticeships. We’ll keep working to make the council more efficient and improve the quality of the services you receive.
Most excitingly, we’ll soon be announcing how you can nominate your community hero to attend the Olympics – thanks to the generosity of local businesses. What a great way to say thank you to someone who’s really making a difference in your local area. Watch this space to find out more...
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