It is now 365 days since your Labour Council took office after the residents of Islington re-elected us for the fourth election in a row. It was, and still is, a huge privilege to be given the trust of so many Islington residents and is a responsibility that the Islington Labour Group takes very seriously.

Throughout the election campaign, residents told us continuously that they wanted to see a fairer and more equal borough, and action on their priorities – which ranged from housing to the environment to community safety.

We have achieved so much despite extensive funding cuts from the Conservative Government, which has seen £300 million of funding cut since 2010. Islington Labour is on the side of local people and will continue to make our borough greener, fairer and safer.

Our Islington Labour manifesto included a promise to build 750 new council homes, support 5000 more local people into work, protect youth services and to do our part in tackling the climate emergency. We’ve got started on that and so much more:

1. 284 Ukrainian refugees who have settled in the borough through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, including 79 children
2. Rolled out a £1million hardship fund, and are providing thousands of households with financial support
3. Declared a cost-of-living emergency and helped residents with £30 million cost of living support package
4. Helped local people access an extra £5 million of benefits they were entitled to
5. Launched 34 Warm Community Spaces across the borough
6. Approved 587 new social homes to be built across the borough
7. Continuing to provide free school meals for primary school children across the borough
8. 11 by 11 has engaged with 50 schools and 3 early years settings, providing 8000 opportunities to engage in cultural activities
9. Successfully rolled out laptops to hundreds of secondary school children
10. Developed a new Education Strategy called ‘Putting Children First’ for our borough’s schools
11. School Wellbeing Service are now active in all primary and secondary mainstream schools and is providing much needed mental health support
12. Extended the free-swimming programme for upcoming half terms to allow 1000 children to become more confident in the water
13. Launched the Young Black men and mental health programme
14. Adopted the Right to Food campaign
15. 36 new employers accredited with the Living Wage Foundation (450 target)
16. Saved the Buses!
17. Announced plans for 70% of the borough to be covered by Liveable Neighbourhoods
18. Completed 11 new greening schemes
19. Continuing to invest in new cycle parking facilities of 500 hanger spaces each year
20. Helped 2080 people into new jobs
21. Launched £2 million programme to invest in recycling on housing estates
22. Food waste trials continue to be rolled out across the borough
23. Tenants Charter will be adopted this month
24. 400 electric vehicle charging points and 400 bike hangars across the borough to further reduce the use and impact of private vehicles
25. We marked World Car Free Day by announcing an improvement in air quality across the borough, reflecting the positive impact of efforts to create a cleaner, greener, healthier Islington
26. Improved air quality, and reduced toxic air to well below the legal limit
27. Invested an extra £1million in tackling damp and mould in council homes
28. Estate Champion service operational across 21 estates
29. 140 new council homes bought
30. Planning works on 371 properties to make them warmer and cheaper to heat
31. Boroughwide HMO licensing scheme implemented
32. Rolling out new high speed, cheap broadband across our estates
33. Met our target of rolling out 300 safe havens