Making it happen
'Making it Happen' is our commitment to building a more equal Islington and how we’re investing in the things that make a real difference to everyday life.
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 more new and improved homes
Since December 2024, we have taken big steps to creating 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
- 20 new homes that are almost done on the Andover Estate
- 11 new homes, almost finished, on Parkview Estate
- 17 new homes that are under construction at 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 more homes in the future. This means that we can build hundreds more homes for social rent sooner, helping make a more equal future where everyone has a safe place to call home.
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
- 2,181 boilers, investing more than £8m
We also invested £2.7 million in improving kitchens and bathrooms across all of our housing.
These improvements give residents higher quality, more modern facilities and help extend the life of our homes for years to come.
Making Islington safer
We are making Islington safer by creating more safe spaces and tackling crime.
We have:
- reduced anti-social behaviour in hotspot areas by 50%
- made 225 more Safe Havens since 2021 – welcoming spaces where people that feel threatened can get support
- set up a new Neighbourhood Patrol team in May 2025 - day and night, on hundreds of patrols since last year to tackle illegal trading and anti social behaviour
- helped get over 10,000 weapons off the street with knife bins across the borough – a safe, anonymous way to dispose of weapons
- reduced by two-thirds the number of young people affected by knife crime in the year up to November 2025
- supported 500 vulnerable people into accommodation or wellbeing services
- issued more than 4,700 fines for littering and fly‑tipping
- made a simpler online form for reporting anti-social behaviour that now takes around 60% of reports
- put on 400 community events and engagement sessions each year, focusing on women’s safety, youth safety and hate crime awareness and prevention
- hired a Hate Crime Prevention Officer to support and empower communities impacted by hate crime
More protection for Finsbury Park
We will be doing more to protect Finsbury Park from crime and anti-social behaviour with 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. You may have seen them out talking to residents, businesses and community groups, getting to know your concerns and becoming a part of everyday Finsbury Park life.
We are also working with the police to promote women’s safety in bars and pubs and raising awareness 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
