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What’s so great about a world-class rubbish tip?
• KEN Friar got a world-class stadium, we got a world-class rubbish dump (What a result: homes, jobs and a world-class stadium! February 27). I can’t dispute his claim that the Emirates redevelopment has been a triumph for Arsenal – apart from their inability to score there. But to claim it’s been a benefit for the community is going a bit far.
As your article (Stations feel strain as 5.000 homes go up, February 27) testifies, the Arsenal development boom is proving a strain on locals, as is the gridlock on Holloway Road and the extensive and more-frequent-than-ever road closures caused by the increased number of matches and events at the stadium.
There may be business opportunities (for hotdog sellers?) and jobs, for itinerant builders, but there are in fact fewer businesses in the area than before the redevelopment forced many to move out.
The club was not so keen on replacing the old JVC sports centre until the credit crunch caused it to rethink its plans.
But thanks for the lovely new open spaces – a windblown tarmac concourse around the stadium (wouldn’t the budget stretch to paving?) and the world-class rubbish tip – the old tip took our rubbish just the same.
Affordable homes are vital, but the club has provided the minimum it could in order to get planning permission to turn brownfield land into a goldmine. More investment in amenities and improvements to Tube stations were mooted when planning permission was first sought. No surprise that they never materialised.
At least the excellent Highbury station news vendor, Harendra Bhatt, will benefit, or he would if he wasn’t about to be forced out by another bunch of money-grubbers claiming to be acting in the public interest.
JUSTIN ROEBUCK
Aberdeen Road, N5
• MY partner and I are both Arsenal fans and go to the Emirates Stadium down the road to watch our team play. We welcome the new stadium and the substantial increase in housing around it, but this must be accompanied by play facilities for the extra children in the area.
Benwell Road and Drayton Park are now noisy and dangerous roads – I live there and know they are. I have witnessed impatient drivers frustrated with traffic jams sound their horns, drive on the pavement and the wrong side of the road.
At the Holloway Road and Drayton Park junction there is only one safe place to cross, the other three routes are unsafe. This is scary enough for adults, let alone children trying to cross safely by themselves on their way to Paradise Park.
I have a three-year-old daughter and know how vital it is for her and the many other children living in this area to have access to a local play area and safe places to cross busy roads. For peace of mind, parents want their children to be able to play and cross roads in safety.
I have worked with Islington Gardeners, who say that green play space makes people happier and communities safer by reducing crime. How about the children at Drayton Park School helping to design a mural for a new play space?
Arsenal promised to be a “good neighbour”, and the Lib Dem council gave commitments to improve road safety and community facilities around the stadium. Well, we now have the Emirates, so it is time to deliver for the people of Islington as well.
ESTHER MOORHOUSE
Benwell Road, N7
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