Hi all,
It's come to light in the week that the council are planning to close the ice rink at the Sobell Centre and turn the space into a soft play area.
Understandably having the rink at a time where energy bills are high is a challenge but the main issues we have is that Islington council have been quite opaque with their figures and the way they have gone about all of this: having already drawn up plans without any research or public consultation/scrutiny and delegating the overall say to the Corporate Director of Resource.
There are various rinks around the country that are sustainable and one is opening up in Lea Valley soon which I might add has far fewer transport links. So a bit baffled why this rink on the doorstep of North London's busiest interchanges can't be managed better by GLL - it's not an excuse for closure. We also have 203+ soft play facilities in London and only 4 Ice rinks.
Would appreciate any help and support the community here can lend us by signing the petition below and attending the protest at:
Islington Town Hall on Thursday the 18th May - 6pm onwards.
https://www.change.org/p/save-sobell-ice-rinkThere are also twitter and FB groups for more info:
@savesobell and "Save Sobell Ice Rink"
Happy to answer any questions as best I can.
Thanks!
Comments
The insurance will pay to rebuild it, it'll never come back once Islington reinstate the trampoline park and add more soft play areas as cash cows and Islington will not produce talented skaters anymore.
The council have released an online consultation: https://www.letstalk.islington.gov.uk/sobell-project
It's open until July 7th and is what the council will base their final decision on so the more responses we can get for keeping the ice rink the better our chances.
You'll need to register and sign-in to fill out the short survey and if you're stuck for what to respond then the guys organising against the closure have some sample answers you can use here: https://savesobell.co.uk/how-to-fill-in-the-consultation-form
If you could fill it in and spread the word, that would be most appreciated!
Thanks!