Wilmington square has a hidden, almost secret quality, thanks to its encasement in huge trees, its eccentric raised pavement on the north side and its elegant central pavilion. Wilmington Square is a bit scruffier than its sister squares, which makes it less assuming.

In 2012, a group of us in the neighbourhood started the Wilmington Square Society. Ever since, we have tried to preserve the square from further deterioration, most notably through the actions of the Wilmington Square Community Gardening Club.

But our biggest issue, which we still haven’t managed to resolve, is the dilapidated state of the railings. They are original, made from wrought iron.There are very few Regency-era railings left in Islington, indeed anywhere in London. Understandably, English Heritage lists them as an "asset at risk", and the risk is more than serious.

In a couple of places the dilapidation has been caused by a tree trunk pushing them over. It would be possible to deal with this by creating a railing extension inside the garden square, set back from the trunks. In many other areas, the railings have been broken by vandalism and nothing has been done for years and years by the railing’s owners, Islington Council. To be fair, in 2021, the Council did repair one small section with a new identically-modelled railing, after a vehicle smashed into them. It has been very well done. So it is quite possible to do the same with the rest. But this section was paid for by the car’s insurers.

To do essential repairs to the most damaged sections of the railings would cost around £75,000 plus VAT. That seems a small price to pay for protecting a public asset of this importance to Islington, in a square just across the road from Exmouth Market. It is enjoyed on a regular basis by many workers from the surrounding area, especially at lunchtimes.

There was allocated money in the pot thanks to the success of the planning application for the huge redevelopment of the nearby Mount Pleasant site. This included an undertaking from the developers to give funds to Islington Council for the improvement of the facilities open to the public in the surrounding area, citing Wilmington Square as the focus. That planning application was approved long ago. Today the Mount Pleasant redevelopment is well-advanced. But none of the promised money, has been directed from Islington Council to the refurbishment of Wilmington Square.

Apart from aesthetic and historic reasons for repairing the railings, the Square’s sheer accessibility at all hours, thanks to missing railings, has made it a place of choice for drug dealers and drops, which the police have to deal with and a health and safety risk that the residents have to suffer.

So our plea is this: could you donate urgently funds to repair the Wilmington Square railings, please?