A row has broken out over the number of new homes being built in the borough.

Islington is one of the most overcrowded places in the UK and is desperately short of homes – something the ruling Labour group pledged to address prior to their election in 2010.

But new figures show the opposition Lib Dem group delivered almost 500 more homes during the four years they were in power from 2006 to 2010 than Labour has during their current term.

According to the stats, which came from a request to the town hall by Lib Dem leader Cllr Terry Stacy, his party oversaw 2,115 new homes, while Labour will have created just 1,617 by the time the elections come around.

Welcomed

He said: “Every new home that is built in Islington should be welcomed, but Labour is all talk on this as we can see from the council’s own figures.

“In the last four years they have delivered fewer affordable homes in Islington compared to the Lib-Dem’s last four years in office.

Cllr James Murray, Islington Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: “Despite the Government slashing investment in housing, we are on track to build 2,000 new affordable homes by 2015.

“We are in the top five local authorities for new housing in the country.”