Park gate locking will continue
After a four-week consultation with residents, Islington Council has decided that it will not go ahead with proposals to leave all park gates unlocked overnight.
Cllr Rowena Champion, Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality and Transport, said: “We are grateful to everyone who took the time to respond to the public consultation. We’ve listened carefully to the feedback, and as a result, we will continue the current service of locking some park gates overnight.
"We also welcome ideas gathered through the consultation process, and will continue to work with colleagues and partners to explore ways to keep our much loved parks safer and more welcoming for all.”
The council had originally proposed to stop locking all but three park gates across the borough. Currently, not all parks and gardens are locked – some don’t even have gates – but out of the 122 parks and gardens, 44 are locked each night by a council contractor, three are locked by members of the community, and three are part-locked by council staff.
The proposal would have saved £100,000 per year to help ease the tough financial pressure the council – like all local authorities – faces.
The consultation, which invited feedback from residents across the borough, generated strong engagement with over 1,700 responses and highlighted a range of views on how to manage safety, accessibility, and anti-social behaviour in Islington’s parks and green spaces.
Notes to editors
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