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Stand up for the ‘little people’
• COMMUNITY Housing Group is making determined attempts to push through a planning application to redevelop 8 Purley Place, Islington, despite overwhelming objections from the community, and from Firdaus Kanga, who is facing imminent eviction from his home.CHG’s initial application to turn the shared home for people with disabilities into bedsit accommodation for young people with complex needs was rejected.
The decision was something of a victory for local democracy, as four out of six councillors chose to listen to the voices of those who would be most affected by the scheme, rather than the recommendations of planning officers, or to the simple profit motives of CHG.
After hearing arguments formulated by 50, out of a possible 60, objectors, the councillors voted to throw out the plans, which they decided had the potential for “increased disturbance”, would lead to an “unacceptable impact... due to loss of outlook” and would “prejudice a sense of personal safety and security” for all those in the neighbourhood.
In layman’s terms, the roof’s too high and the distance too short for 10 boisterous youths to fit into.
It was with a sinking heart, then, that we heard of CHG’s intention to appeal against the decision.
But it is with hope in the continuing values of Islington Council’s commitment to representing the “little people” that we now call upon the council and its officers to stand by its councillors’ judgement, and to defend to the hilt their objective decision to put people before profit at Purley Place.
NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED
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