Caroline Russell, the sole Green councillor and opposition voice on Islington Council, led five local campaign groups into Islington Town Hall this past Thursday, 25th June. She supported activists from groups that campaign on issues ranging from housing to road safety, from workfare to weed killer so that they might use the local political framework to build momentum for their campaigns.
Councillor Russell has helped to guide the Islington Cycle Action Group, Islington Living Streets, Islington Park Street Residents, anti-Glyphosate activists and communal heating campaigners through the process of asking questions, petitioning and participating in the Islington Full Council Meeting. Before the meeting of the full council began, some of these groups gathered outside Islington Town Hall to support their campaigns.
Caroline Russell said: “As elected representatives, we must encourage and enable participation in the political process. The public is increasingly disenchanted with traditional politics and we, as councillors, are not doing our job if we fail to connect the discussion in the Council chamber to people’s real concerns. It is essential that community groups are invited and supported to raise their concerns and have their campaigns heard at a local government level.
“We must not exist in a vacuum in the Town Hall chamber. Bringing local campaign groups into the council chamber should be the bread and butter of local politics.”
