The Executive agreed to close Blessed Sacrament RC Primary School on 31 July 2024. The school is significantly under capacity, with a 64% vacancy rate and just six pupils in Reception.

Councillor Safi-Ngongo told the Executive that it was a statutory requirement to consult before closing a school. The school, along with the Diocese of Westminster, had opposed the closure. During the consultations, parents and carers had asked for financial support to buy new uniforms for their children if they have to move to a new school and the Executive agreed to provide it. Councillor Safi-Ngongo said that the school was in the Barnsbury Planning area, which has a 30% vacancy rate across its schools. There are three Roman Catholic primary schools with vacancies within 1.5 miles of Blessed Sacrament RC Primary School, and there are places available for every pupil at Blessed Sacrament RC Primary School at nearby schools.

Councillor Hamdache asked if the strategy had any influence or bearing on getting Collins Theatre finally into use . The Chair said that the strategy did not but that Stephen Biggs, Corporate Director for Community Health Building would be working to bring it back into use.

The Executive agreed to approve the procurement strategy for a new school meals contract for Islington schools. The current contract will expire in March 2025, and the new contract will begin in April 2025. The Council investigated the option of running the service itself but decided that this would be too expensive for schools and that the best value for money would come from a competitively tendered contract.

Councillor Hamdache asked for information about what work the Council had done to look at the experiences of councils who had decided to run their own school meals service. Councillor Safi-Ngongo responded that the Council had investigated in-sourcing but had decided against it. She explained:

We are in the middle of cost of living. Cost of meal is very expensive, and also we are facing problem with our schools, with deficits. We are having another problem where the pupil number is low, meaning if we bring it in-house, bringing all those costs, it will want to push us when we're going to sell it back to school, it will be expensive, it will not going to be appropriate, ready to request our school to pay more where they are facing deficit. That is the main reason to say, let's go back to the procurement.

Councillor Hamdache also asked if the Council had spoken with the Mayor of London about a joint approach to procurement. The Chair said that he would investigate this with the Mayor of London’s office.

The Executive agreed to approve Imagine Islington Culture Strategy 2024-2030. Councillor O'Halloran told the Executive that the strategy had been developed through an extensive engagement process, and thanked council officers and members for their work in creating it.

The Executive agreed to approve a proposal to establish a Black Cultural Centre at 16-18 Hornsey Road. The Executive also agreed to delegate authority to Raj Chand, Corporate Director for Community Engagement and Wellbeing, for final lease approval, including a ‘peppercorn rent’. The Council will also be making an initial funding contribution of £50,000.

Councillor Ward presented a report about the Islington's New Council Homes Programme, saying:

There's no easy way of saying this, but it just keeps on getting harder and harder. We have had over a decade of austerity and things aren't getting any easier. And that's why we were very, very proud to present a balanced budget very recently, but it wasn't easy. And we had to make almost 11 million of cuts and efficiencies.

The report states that high interest rates and inflation, especially in the construction industry, are making it difficult to build new council homes. A number of schemes had to be stopped because they were no longer financially viable. These schemes were: the Triangle Estate; Quaker and Braithwaite Court; Drakeley and Aubert Court; New Orleans Estate; Mersey Garages; Elmore and Lindsey; Macclesfield House Garages, and Block D on the Parkview Estate. Despite these challenges, the Council agreed to retain its ambition to build 750 new council homes.

The Executive agreed that plans to build 178 new homes and 10 shared ownership homes at Finsbury Leisure Centre, Vorley Road, Harvist Estate and Bemerton Estate (South) should go ahead. A further 570 new council homes will be included in future plans.

Councillor Hamdache asked for confirmation on the status of the Sotheby Mews data centre. The Chair said that original plans for the site had been cancelled, but that the future of the site was yet to be decided. He said that the council were in contact with the providers.

The Council agreed to approve a procurement strategy for an arboricultural framework agreement. ¹ Councillor Champion explained the need for the agreement, saying that Islington has 40,000 publicly managed trees and an ambitious tree planting target . He added:

We absolutely know how important trees are for our health and wellbeing, and particularly as the climate changes, further impact on Islington. Trees are so important in reducing sort of heat island effect but also to absorbing the intense rainfall that is coming as well.

The Council had previously used a single contract to deliver these services, but this framework agreement will provide a list of pre-approved providers who can be called on to deliver services as required.

The Executive approved a proposal to agree a heat supply contract with Berkeley Homes, the developers of the City Forum development on 250 City Road. This contract will enable the City Forum development to connect to the Bunhill Heat and Power network.

Councillor Ward explained the importance of the project, saying that:

This is a very, very exciting project

He also added:

We've got to keep going with this

The Council agreed to note a Monitoring Report for February 2024 which outlined two decisions taken by corporate directors using their delegated powers: a decision to enter into an agreement with NHS England to provide a new Health Centre at 7 Newington Barrow Way and a decision to confirm the funding allocations for the Voluntary and Community Sector Partnership Grants Programme 2024-28, which had been agreed at a meeting of the VCS Committee on 30 January 2024. ²