Former Green councillor Katie Dawson misses groundbreaking repair service launch

Published: 25 June 2010
by PETER GRUNER

THE great and the good were there for the opening of Islington’s first council-run domestic repair service – but not the woman whose idea inspired the project in the first place.

Former Green councillor Katie Dawson, who campaigned for the innovative recycling scheme, Bright Sparks – believed to be the first of its kind in the capital – was unable to attend the unveiling due to a work commitment.

Ms Dawson, voted out of office at the local elections in May, has left an extraordinary legacy, according to many observers. It includes not only the repair shop which opened on Monday, but also the 20mph speed limit which now applies to all Islington’s residential streets.

Speaking this week, Ms Dawson said she was delighted that the repair scheme, based at the offices of regeneration organisation FinFuture in Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, had finally opened.

Now, instead of throwing away that broken toaster, hair dryer or pushchair, people can bring them to the shop where it is hoped they can be repaired, for a small fee.

Ms Dawson said: “I’m not worried about who personally gets the credit for the scheme. But I want people to know that the idea came from the Green Party.

“People throw all sorts of things away when they can quite easily be fixed. But most of us are not very good at repairing things.

“As a mother I’m only too aware that a push­chair or buggy is often easily repaired and might just need a new wheel. Yet there are very few places which will do it, and parents are expected to fork out for a new one.” As well as fixing goods, the shop will sell unwanted used items and train apprentices to become repair men and women.

Labour council leader Councillor Catherine West, who opened the shop, said: “Waste electrical goods – from hair dryers to phones and washing machines – make up the fastest-growing waste problem in the UK. In one year the amount of electrical waste would fill Wembley Stadium six times.

“More than 75 per cent of discarded and broken electrical goods end up in landfill, where lead and other toxins can cause soil and water contamination.”

Bright Sparks shop at 225-229 Seven Sisters Road is open from Tuesday to Saturday from 12.30pm to 5.30pm, and until 7pm on Thursdays. Among items it will try to repair are kettles, coffee makers, electric radiators, vacuum cleaners, TVs, computers, CD players, games consoles and electrical musical instruments. Items can be donated for re-use or resale.