a planning application for a new-build 60,000 seater stadium in November 2000. This included a redevelopment project at Drayton Park, converting the existing ground Highbury to flats and building a new waste station in Lough Road. As part of the scheme, Arsenal intended to create 1,800 new jobs for the community and 2,300 new homes. Improvements to three railway stations, Holloway Road, Drayton Park and Finsbury Park, were included to cope with the increased capacity requirements from matchday crowds. Islington Stadium Communities Alliance (ISCA) – an alliance of 16 groups representing local residents and businesses, was set up in January 2000 as a body against the redevelopment. Alison Carmichael, a spokeswoman for the group, said of the move, "It may look like Arsenal are doing great things for the area, but in its detail the plan is awful. We blame the council; the football club just wants to expand to make more money." Tom Lamb, an ISCA member, was concerned about as air pollution and growing traffic, adding "that is a consequence which most Arsenal fans would never see, because they are in Islington only for about thirty days a year." Seven months after the planning application was submitted, a poll showed that 75% of respondents (2,133 residents) were against the scheme. By October 2001, the club asserted that a poll of Islington residents found that 70% were in favour, and received the backing from the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. The club launched a campaign to aid the project in the run up to Christmas and planted the slogan "Let Arsenal support Islington" on advertising hoardings and in the backdrop of manager Arsène Wenger's press conferences. Islington Council approved Arsenal's planning application on 10 December 2001, voting in favour of the Ashburton Grove development. The council also consented to the transfer of the existing waste recycling plant in Ashburton Grove to Lough Road. Livingstone approved the plans a month later, and it was then motioned to then-Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, who initially delayed making a final decision. He had considered whether to refer the scheme to a public inquiry, but eventually decided not to. Planning permission was granted by Islington Council in May 2002, but local residents and ISCA launched a late challenge to the High Court, arguing the plans were against the law. Duncan Ouseley dismissed the case in July 2002, paving the way for Arsenal to