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Buyers will feel pain
• COUNCILLOR Catherine West argues that all new developments in Islington should be at least 50 per cent affordable housing (Force developers to play their part in cutting housing queue, February 22). This is the type of policy you would expect those on the far left to promote, but has she really considered what this would mean for the broader community?
First, there will be a lot fewer new developments, as the numbers are much less likely to add up if developers cannot charge the market rate on 50 per cent of their apartments.
Cllr West says her idea is attractive because the burden will fall on the developer. What she doesn’t say, but must surely acknowledge, is that the real burden, in the form of higher prices, would not be on the developers, but on anyone who wishes to buy non-subsidised housing in Islington. As for her desire to make Islington a “mixed community”, there is already 50 per cent social housing in Islington, one of the highest rates in London, and plenty of crime. So surely we have enough social housing as it is?
Adrian Watson
Batchelor Street, N1
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