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I live in Canonbury and have been opposing the restrictions here since they were introduced during lock down. I’ve been ignored and lied to by officials. Our local councillors have insulted me rather than provide any substantive replies. 

 

Here’s what I believe 

 

1. The camera-controlled entry points require a full data-protection assessment. When I last asked, the council hadn’t done this. Instead under a FOI request they sent me one for some temporary light-controlled road-works at Old St. The cameras are under remote control (they can rotate) and are capable of providing a live feed. Their images are subject to automated image-recognition processing. Neither the remote control nor the processing are handled by the council but they won’t say who does it, nor how the operators are subject to oversight. Officials originally said they were “like speed cameras” ie fixed cameras radar-triggered to take still images. That was a triple untruth

 

2. The council has undertaken no assessment on the effects on employment in the borough. Nor have they considered any possible gentrification effects — even though the city architect of Copenhagen, pioneers in LTN, says they would do things differently next time because of this. They haven’t consulted our local shops, and councillors have refused point-blank to speak to them. 

 

3. The council did not conduct, and has not conducted, a proper DDA assessment. Late in the day they seem to feel that a blue-badge scheme is all that’s needed. Yet Canonbury is full of elderly people who are physically too frail to feel safe on public transport yet rely on cars and taxis to maintain their lives. And as a slightly younger example, leaving a hospital consultation for my non-blue-badge “disability” recently, heavily sedated, I was refused a ride home by a taxi driver who was feed up with Islington fines. 

 

4. The council cannot provide any assessment of the supposed health benefits of the schemes, let alone one segmented by age, sex and race. One council in northern England was quoted as saying “six weeks of extra life”. You could waste that in a bus at Highbury Corner years before you were eligible for a Freedom Pass. 

 

5. The council provided itself with a block exemption. If you’re a council tenant the van coming to repaint your windowsill can ignore the signs; if you’re a tentant of a housing association or private landlord then the plumber can queue on St Paul’s Road while the water floods your flat. They haven’t  mentioned this in any publicity nor did they acknowledge this on the signs. 

 

I’m pretty disheartened by the whole thing. Islington has made me sympathise with North Koreans. It’s all lovely — shut up!!

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