Islington Tribune - by MARK BLUNDEN Published: 8 June 2007
Park ban sparks clash
A STRONGLY-worded email from an opposition Labour councillor was flying around this week in protest at Lib Dem involvement in banning naked street drinkers from a Holloway park. Last week, the Tribune reported how up to 25 boozers stripped off in Kinloch Park while singing and dancing. The group is now the subject of a dispersal order.
Lib Dem councillor Marisha Ray said last week: “We worked hand in hand with the police and residents to try to find a long-term solution to this problem.”
But opposition Labour councillor Phil Kelly wrote in an email to the Lib Dem community safety chief: “You played absolutely no part whatsoever in pushing this ban through. “It would not have happened unless (Sergeant) Chris Walsh had fought it through two meetings at which you never turned up.”
Councillor Ray said: “Councillor Kelly has never contacted me about his ward, though I would have been happy to help if he had bothered. “As it happens I have walked around the Finsbury Park area with a police team and been to see Kinloch Park.”