Islington Green Party opposes plans set out by the Council to sell off part of the Sobell Centre and surrounding open space for housing, to help pay for the site’s redevelopment, a plan that involves closing the centre for up to two years.

Greens have been talking and listening to residents, users and staff at the centre in the last week, and the overwhelming mood is one of outrage at the Council’s rushed and one sided consultation. Our Petition - “Don’t $ell the $obell” has won over 600 signatures in a few days, and counting.

With the London results in (finally)! It’s clear that more people have switched to the Greens in this part of London.

In Islington itself, the results were emphatic. In the London-wide “list” vote in the borough, the Greens finished third, ahead of the Lib dems; inNorth Islington, we finished second, beating Boris’s barmy army as well. Aled Fisher,our Green partyconstituency candidate, finished second in North Islington,ahead of both the Lib Dem and Tory candidates. For more details see Green Islington Vote up in 2008 GLA Elections

The North East London Constituency provided the largest Green vote of any in London. In the wider scheme of things, this result helped theGreen Party retain its two GLA members (Darren Johnson and Jenny Jones),

Green party members have been out leafletting, canvassing, and generally winding up the other parties (when we’ve seen them) all over the borough in the run up toMay 1st. The Polls show us running at about 14% in the Assembly elections - every vote counts on the List as we push to increase our number of Assembly Members from the 2 we have now.

You may need a degree in advanced calculus to figure out the ballot paper - but VOTE GREEN ON PEACH is the only thing you need remember.

Want to help ? write to michael@michaeldcoffey.co.uk

Islington Greens have stepped up their campaign to make Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes (SUDS) a test of planning approvals in the Borough. Experts now agree that the UK is going to have to get used to patterns of sharp, heavy bursts of rainfall that risk overcharging our sewer network if the rain has nowhere else to go but the drains. The ultimate consequence is sewage backing up in people’s homes and gardens. At the February LBI Council meeting, the Lib Dems refused to commit to a Green request to make all relevant planning approvals conditional on maximising SUDS in the development.

By creating permeable surfaces as part of new developments rather than blindly slapping down concrete and tarmac, more rain water can be absorbed naturally. Grass verges and micro-parks can also act as traffic calmers and generally improve the street landscape. The fact that Islington has the lowest amount of open space per capita in London makesSUDS all the more critical.

Green activists collected over 650 signatures one Saturday morning in Late November on a petition calling for a pedestrian crossing at the notorious junction of Highbury Hill and Highbury Grove.

One local resident told us that when she had approached the council about the need for a crossing, the response was “we’ll look into it when there’s been an accident…”. Hmmm…

There are about half a dozen dodgy crossings in Highbury alone, and over the next few weeks, IGP activists will be canvassing residents’ opinions on all of them.