Islington Town Hall

A campaign to break up the company that manages council houses in Islington has now received more than 1,300 signatures – including those of councillors and former directors.

Disband HfI was set up to get rid of Homes for Islington and bring social housing back under council control.

The petition closed with 1,368 signatories, including three Liberal Democrat councillors, one Labour councillor, and independent councillor and three former HfI directors.

The signature of Labour councillor Gary Doolan also appears on the list, but this is believed to have been posted by an imposter.

Organisers now hope this will force the council to take action, but Islington rules state that 8,000 or more signatures must be obtained to ensure a council debate.

Thomas Cooper, who set up the petition, said: “We have more signatures than Alice Perry got votes. She has got a voice on the council, so why shouldn’t we?

“All this is despite the council’s website not recognising a lot of people’s postcodes, even though they live in Islington. The council should have sorted this problem out before such an important petition.

“I find it interesting that all the candidates for the recent by-election signed apart from Alice Perry. I thought Labour were meant to be in favour of keeping public services public?”

A second petition, exclusively for residents on the Finsbury Estate, off St John Street, Finsbury, was signed by 283 residents from 2,365 households – representing 52 per cent of homes on the estate.

James Murray, Islington Council’s executive member for housing, said: “We have just finished the first phase of our consultation on the future of housing in the borough. When we have looked at the responses, we will come up with some options and get people’s opinions of those. Then the debate will go to a meeting of the executive, which will be held in public.

“We want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to have their say so we can find out what matters to people. What is most important to me is that we find a strategy that offers the best service possible, while still keeping sight of our other priorities, such as building more council housing.”