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Petition Tag - finsbury
1. Give us access to Finsbury Park 
In a City the size of London, the Underground system is the quickest way to get around and we are disappointed with the Mayor's decision to shelve 22 of the 45 planned step free access projects across London only committing himself to providing step-free access at 29 per cent of all stations by 2017. This is a major step back from previous plans to provide step-free access on a third of the network by 2013. As a result, many disabled passengers, older people and parents with young children are being denied access to this mode of transport. This is particularly concerning in the run up to the 2012 Paralympics and makes us wonder how the Mayor is planning to keep his post-Beijing pledge to make London’s Games the most accessible ever.
It makes little sense that Finsbury Park, where the current 49.1m passenger journeys a year are likely to increase by 40% over the next 15 years, is not being made step-free whilst Kingsbury and Amersham, both serving less than one tenth of Finsbury Park’s passengers, are being made accessible. We believe that money would be better spend on projects in areas where a larger number of people would benefit.
The decision makes even less sense because Network is going ahead with plans to provide step-free access from the overground platforms to street level at Finsbury Park. It has now given Transport for London and the Mayor until the autumn to change their minds on working together to make Finsbury Park step-free.
These are the reasons why we (Jeremy Corbyn MP, Jennette Arnold AM, local councillors, the Islington Disability Network, Islington Mobility Forum and Transport for All) are working together to collect as many signatures to pass to the Mayor to convince him to change his mind. If you agree that Finsbury Park Underground station should be made accessible to all passengers then please sign this petition. We are aiming to hand the petition over to the Mayor in the Autumn.
Ps. Please provide your email address to ensure your signature counts!
2. Stop the Sell-Off of Lubetkin's Finsbury Health Centre
Islington PCT is proposing to sell the Finsbury Health Centre (FHC) designed by Berthold Lubetkin to private developers. Next door, they want to build a GP surgery with no specialist services despite current government policy encouraging multi-service clinics.
The specialist services currently at FHC are used by people from a wide area. They are also extremely important for local residents as Clerkenwell and South Islington have a high population of both elderly people and young families who especially need locally accessible services. In addition, moving the services out of the area and building another GP surgery will be costly, but the PCT has yet to prove that the profits from selling the FHC will counter-balance those costs.
From before the inception of the NHS, the Finsbury Health Centre (FHC) has been not only an architectural icon but a standard-bearer for the delivery of public health care. Because its once forward-looking facilities are now out of date, the FHC deserves a refurbishment to bring it in line with modern standards. After an exhaustive report into the decision to close Finsbury Health Centre, Islington Council found that it would be far more cost-effective to keep it open and recommended that it be refurbished and retained to provide NHS community services.
The PCT is disregarding both its own expensive consultations over the past six years and the health of our community by proposing this sale. It should be stopped.
3. Make a Fencing Salle part of the new Finsbury Leisure Centre!
Finsbury Leisure Centre in EC1 will soon undergo a major refurbishment and part of it might be demolished all together (see the link above).
We're asking Islington Council to allow London Fencing Club to refurbish the current squash courts building earmarked for demolition into a Fencing Salle.
