Healthy streets top spot honour

Simon Izod, Islington, full address supplied, writes:

Congratulations to Islington Council for claiming top spot on the Healthy Streets scorecard leader board, which ranks London boroughs based on the health of their streets. It is clear a lot of hard work has been done over the last year by both council officers and councillors and they deserve all the credit for this achievement.

The score card number is decided using an equation based on nine indicators. These are split into five ‘input’ metrics (eg the percentage of schools with school streets in a borough) and four ‘outcome’ indicators (eg road safety data). They provide an indication of how different boroughs compare with each other regarding the health of their streets and what work is needed to make them healthy.

Islington Gazette: A young girl cycling on a 'safer' Islington roadA young girl cycling on a 'safer' Islington road (Image: Chris Kenyon)

Islington climbed the rankings after a year of rapid roll-out of measures, including the introduction of seven Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, where none have been implemented in over 30 years and new cycle tracks on Liverpool Road, Drayton Park, Green Lanes and York Way. Forty per cent of the borough’s schools now have school streets, more than doubling the number from the previous year.

We are seeing a rapid acceleration in the number of devastating climate events across the globe including recently in North America where temperatures records have been successively smashed on three consecutive days in Canada. It is imperative that all measures that remove our reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure are implemented within the next decade. Providing active transport infrastructure that enables as many people as possible across the borough to walk, cycle or scoot is one of several changes Islington council have committed to in their bid to be carbon neutral by 2030.

There’s a lot of work still to be done to enable our streets to be carbon neutral, so it is vital the council continues this great progress. It is fantastic to be living a borough that is taking a lead not just in London, but across the UK, by making our streets safer for our children now and in the future. Long may this continue.

For more information about People Friendly Streets see barnsburystmarys2020.ghost.io