Making it happen

From new homes and safer streets to healthier spaces and vital support for those who need it most, we’re investing in the things that make a real difference to everyday life.

Our new £5 million fund will boost progress on the issues you tell us matter most.

From January to March, we are announcing new projects that improve neighbourhoods, create opportunities, and help build a more equal future for everyone. Check this page and follow our social channels for more updates.

Making Islington the best place to grow up

We will spend more than £1 million a day in 2026 to make sure Islington stays one of the best places in the country to grow up.

With our partners, we want to give children and young people more say in their future and help them to reach their full potential, whatever their background. 

More opportunity and protection for the vulnerable

By focusing on innovation, early intervention and prevention work, our Children's Services have been rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted twice in a row with inspectors saying we are “transforming children’s lives”.

Our Youth Justice Service was also rated the best in London in 2024. The number of young people entering the justice system has fallen by 80% since 2016, and we have one of the lowest reoffending rates in England.

School and extra curricular education

We are one of only 20 local authorities in the country (out of 317) to have every primary and secondary school rated either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. 

We're also investing in programmes and support to expand young people's experiences and save families money including:

• saving families up to £550 per year, per child with free school meals for every child in our primary and nursery schools
• investing almost £1 million in 2025 for 30,000 places on our Holiday Activities with Food programme - over 170 activities during the school holidays to let children discover new hobbies, have fun and make new friends
• more than 4,500 places in our Summerversity programme in 2025, offering kayaking, cycling, arts, crafts, cooking, music production, theatre, dance and much more
  giving around 4,500 pupils access to instruments and music-making with our Music Education Islington programme by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
• over 58,000 free cultural experiences since 2019 through our 11 by 11 programme, to make sure culture is a meaningful part of everyday learning

Work training, skills and help for young people

We are helping people find training, jobs and apprenticeships so more can reach their employment goals, whatever your background. 

We have supported more than 6,000 people into employment with our Islington Working partnership between 2022 and 2025.

Help and experience for young people

We have:

• invested £350,000 in two Youth Employment Hubs that offer free support for 16 to 25 year olds planning their next steps into work
• helped more than 1,000 16–25-year-olds to get into work or apprenticeships since 2022, including at the council or other local employers
• put on 245 World of Work activities with schools and local employers in 2025
• helped young people explore careers with 100 work experience placements in the summer for year 10 to 12 students across 9 Islington schools 

Programmes for those with barriers to work

We started programmes to support people who have bigger barriers to work. In 2026, young people not in education, training or employment can take part too. 

• Your Choice offers paid summer jobs for teenagers and young adults at highest risk of serious youth violence. 62 paid placements with more than 30 local employers has led to 95% not offending again and 62% moving into education, employment or training.
• Trailblazer gives care-experienced 17 to 25 year olds strong support, skills, training and paid internships to move into education, employment or training.

Building and making more homes for rent

Since December 2024, we have taken big steps to create more safe, secure and affordable council homes for local families.

Building new affordable homes

This has included building:

• 74 new council homes with another 78 almost finished
• 46 new homes on the Elthorne Estate, including 38 for social rent and 8 for temporary accommodation 
• 48 new homes that are almost done on the Andover and Parkview Estates, and Beaumont Rise
• 19 homes for temporary accommodation at St John’s Mansions to be completed soon

We have also chosen sites where we could build hundreds more homes for social rent sooner.

Doing all we can to make more homes

We are also boosting the number of secure homes we have available by:

• buying back 707 ex-council homes, one of the largest mass housing purchases of this sort in the country 
• reclaiming 71 homes lost through housing fraud, plus £253,430 in illegal profits from housing fraud between April and December 2025
• speeding up planning processes to make more homes faster - we have been granted permission for 1,116 new homes on the New Barnsbury Estate redevelopment, including 291 replacement social rent homes plus 135 extra
• continuing to share the benefits of downsizing (moving to a smaller home if you do not need the extra rooms or space) so families can move into properties that meet their needs

Improving existing homes

We are investing in better facilities for residents living in our existing council homes, so they remain safe, comfortable and in good condition.

In 2025 we replaced 109 kitchens, 135 bathrooms, 43 toilets and 2,181 boilers (costing more than £8m). We also invested £2.7 million improving kitchens and bathrooms in all of our housing.

Less anti social behaviour and crime, more patrols and protection

We are making Islington safer by creating more safe spaces and tackling crime. 

We have:

• reduced anti-social behaviour in hotspot areas by 50%
• set up a new Neighbourhood Patrol team in May 2025 with hundreds of patrols since last year tackling illegal trading and anti social behaviour
• helped get over 10,000 weapons off the street with knife bins across the borough - knife crime among under-25s in Islington has fallen by two-thirds in 2025 

More protection for Finsbury Park

There will be more patrols from the Neighbourhood Patrol team and Parkguard, more inspections from environmental health and trading standards and more support for vulnerable people struggling with housing issues.

Finsbury Park now has 14 extra police officers and 2 extra police sergeants. We are also working with the police to promote women’s safety in bars and pubs and making more people aware of street harassment on Blackstock Road.

Leisure, parks and making it greener

Leisure centres and play spaces

On 19 January 2026, we reopened Whittington Park football pitch with brand new surface. It has space for teams of 5 to 11 a side to play together. Islington Borough Ladies FC use it regularly and put on sessions for women and girls of all ages - whether for training, fun, social or competitive games.

Sobell Leisure Centre was refurbished in May 2025 and saw more than 230,000 visits to the new active play and multi-active zones since then. We had 1,828,488 people visit leisure centres in Islington in 2024 to 2025, including 3,081 swimming lessons for children.

Parks and green spaces

We have got funding for projects that make good on our Parks for Health promises, like: 

• development of the woodland garden at St John’s Garden and new community wildlife garden at Evershot Road Open Space
• new community food growing beds at St Jude Street Open Space
• a new outdoor gym at Caledonian Park and climbing wall at Tufnell Park Playing Fields

As well as our investment, the work of friends groups, businesses, community centres and volunteers in making the borough greener has been rewarded with:

• 14 more Green Flags for Islington parks and 5 Community Green Flags
• awards from London and Britain In Bloom in 2024 and 2025