Islington Council's Executive has accepted the findings of a Homes and Communities Scrutiny Committee review into the borough's community centres, a move that will shape the ongoing community spaces review.
The review, which took place throughout 2024, examined the current availability, role, condition, and management of these vital neighbourhood spaces. The Homes and Communities Scrutiny Committee identified concerns and made recommendations regarding asset information, mapping of community spaces, utility and operating costs, a measurable framework for operations, stakeholder engagement, vacant spaces, ward member engagement, governance principles, increased collaboration, and a repairs and maintenance framework.
Councillor Saiqa Pandor, Executive Member for Communities and Partnerships, thanked the committee for their timely report,
acknowledging community centres as vital neighbourhood spaces.
The Executive's response, agreed upon during the meeting on Thursday, 30 July 2026, will shape the ongoing community spaces review.
The committee's recommendations focused on improving transparency, consistency, and strategic oversight of council-owned and community-managed spaces. Key areas addressed include maintaining a comprehensive register of community centres and assets to understand management arrangements, tenancies, and access. The council has already initiated work on this, with a master internal tracker and a simplified register for elected members developed.
Furthermore, the review called for mapping all community spaces across the borough, including council and externally managed sites, to inform service location decisions and ensure residents have walking-distance access to key services. This mapping work is currently being gathered as part of the community spaces review.
Understanding utility and operating costs is also a priority, with the review highlighting the importance of this data for assessing building efficiency and long-term sustainability. Officers are expected to improve data quality and consistency in this area, though this is complex due to varying billing arrangements.
A measurable framework is to be devised to guide the understanding of current operations and delivery, assessing building condition, utilisation, costs, governance, and management, as well as the impact on participation, wellbeing, social connection, and access to support. Work has begun on developing this framework to improve data quality and consistency, with a report on the methodology due in the autumn.
Robust stakeholder engagement and communications are also central to the review, aiming to understand the need and demand for community spaces from managing organisations, residents, VCS organisations, and Council departments. A proposal for engagement will be shared in the autumn, and will include co-design with residents, ward members, and partners.
The review also emphasised identifying and utilising vacant spaces for community use through creative and innovative thinking, ensuring fair and transparent decision-making processes and expanding co-location of services. The Community Partnerships Team works with the Corporate Landlord service to identify opportunities for vacant spaces, with a Social Value-led approach to leasing being developed.
Ward members are to be engaged in community centre committees to strengthen links and utilise local knowledge. The Executive fully supports this, and the Community Partnerships Team has a strong working relationship with ward members, with this approach being applied at Margery Street and Weston Rise Community Centres.
Developing governance principles and a framework to guide community centre management organisations is also a key recommendation. This includes aligning spaces with Council priorities, delivering social value, incentivising cost reduction and environmental commitments, and establishing annual monitoring and feedback mechanisms. Elements of this are in place or underway, including a borough-wide hall hire pricing schedule and ongoing reviews of health and safety policies.
Increased collaboration between council services and community centres is being encouraged to support local service delivery and participant engagement. The council's Thriving Places programme aims to strengthen neighbourhood-based working, and a Neighbourhood Spaces Team will be established to focus on this. Examples of existing collaboration include Vibast Community Centre, Andover Community Centre, and Jean Stokes Community Centre.
Establishing a clear framework for repairs and maintenance, clarifying responsibilities, funding, reporting, timelines, and response expectations, is a longer-term piece of work. The community spaces review will consider how this can be delivered effectively and efficiently.
The comprehensive community spaces review, which will report to the Executive in the autumn, aims to examine the condition, operating costs, management models, and future use of community centres across the borough. The expected outcomes include an improved understanding of the community centre estate, alignment with council priorities, enhanced resident and community support, informed decision-making, and improved transparency and consistency.
The Executive's response indicates that work is already underway to address many of these points, with the comprehensive community spaces review set to report to the Executive in the autumn. This review will incorporate the insights from the scrutiny committee's findings to provide an evidence base for longer-term decisions about community centres and their future use.
For more details on the meeting and decisions, refer to the Agenda frontsheet, Minutes of Previous Meeting, Public reports pack, and Decisions.
