Agenda item

Councillor Watts thanked everyone who attended the event to mark the first anniversary of the Finsbury Park terrorist attack. Councillor Watts thanked the family of Makram Ali and other survivors for attending, as well as representatives of the Muslim Welfare House and Finsbury Park Mosque. Councillor Watts also reiterated his thanks to all of those who provided support after the attack.  

Councillor Watts said he was proud of how the borough came together after the attack; the terrorist, Darren Osbourne, had failed in his attempt to drive Islington’s communities apart, as the attack had made Islington’s communities stronger and brought them closer together.

Councillor Watts noted this was the first ordinary Council meeting since the local election and said that the administration had hit the ground running. The Council had decided to invest in new housing in EC1, had secured apprenticeships for local young people, had secured the largest fine in the council’s history for a rogue private landlord, had launched a ‘Housing First’ pilot to prevent and address homelessness, and had stood up for local people in campaigns to protect NHS services and improve the accessibility of public transport. Councillor Watts said that, although the election was only a few weeks ago, the Council was already making Islington a fairer place.

Councillor Watts also commented on the recent stabbing near Archway and advised that community safety was a top priority of the administration. Local people were concerned about the safety of their neighbourhoods; the Council was firmly on their side and was working to ensure that Islington is a safe and welcoming borough.

Councillor watts emphasised that the overwhelming majority of young people in Islington are not involved in criminal activity and praised the work of council services, schools and local organisations in providing opportunities to young people, despite the huge cuts to their funding. However, there are real concerns about youth crime in Islington, and the Council was working with the Police to address these.

Islington worked to prevent young people getting involved in crime through its ‘early intervention’ approach; the Council supported young people and their families by investing in mentors and caseworkers. The extra £2million the Council had invested to keep young people safe had provided a range of services for young people, as well as extra CCTV and pioneering work to understand the root causes of serious youth crime. However, keeping the community safe was increasingly challenging due to continuous government cuts to the council and the Police. The Government had cut 300 police officers in Islington since 2010 and this undoubtedly had an effect on the safety of the borough.

Councillor Watts was pleased that serious knife crime in Islington had fallen 13.5% compared to a London-wide increase of around 2% and praised the work of the Integrated Gangs Team, which included representation from the council, Police, JobCentre, NHS, and other organisations. The team worked to identify and intensively support young people entrenched in gang activity, helping them to turn their lives around and create a positive future for themselves. However, the council was not complacent, and following the recent stabbing near Archway, it was clear that further work is needed to support young people to keep the borough as safe as it possibly can be.

Councillor Watts said that the council would not shirk from this challenge, would work closely with the Mayor of London and Police, whilst providing challenge where necessary, and would work with local people who want to see an end to the senseless violence.