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Arsenal flats creeping upwards and outwards
• HIGHBURY Community Association is pleased and somewhat surprised (given Islington Council’s record) to see Councillor Terry Stacy finally making a stand against “creeping” (The Emirates strikes back with cineplex, September 7).
Those who have taken an interest in Arsenal’s property developments will be more than familiar with buildings that creep ever upwards and outwards in successive planning applications, with numbers of residential units creeping ever higher and promised community facilities creeping out of applications, never to be seen again.
It seems that Queensland Road is yet another chapter in the familiar tale. Fourteen storeys increased to 21, 288 flats increased to 725, fewer jobs created and a vanishing community sports centre.
The Community Association is particularly concerned about the increase in housing density, and the height of the blocks of flats, which will be higher than the Emirates Stadium or any of the university accommodation, completely out of keeping with the area and greatly exceeding the stipulations of the London Plan.
We also regret the departure of the community sports centre, which appears to have gone the way of the health centre promised at Highbury Square.
We sincerely hope that Cllr Stacy’s stand will be reflected in his colleagues’ actions when the application reaches committee stage.
Past history does not make us optimistic, and we would urge readers to make their views known if and when the application reaches the stage of formal consultation.
JAMES HOOD
Highbury Community Association
• IF Councillor Terry Stacy is genuinely concerned with Arsenal’s new plan to build a cinema, he and his Lib Dem-led council should ensure that the club is a good neighbour and instead honours its original promise to build a sports centre for the people of the borough.
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn is right to say that the Lib Dem council should press Arsenal to deliver a new sports centre for the young people of Islington, and make it a condition of granting any new planning permission.
Also, football coaches should be parked in the Emirates Stadium as originally planned, and the promised public transport improvements delivered.
GARY HEATHER
Mayton Street
N7
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