As
people may be aware, Royal Mail is planning to redevelop part of
their large WC1 Mount Pleasant site. Both Islington and Camden
councils are involved in this and with 750 homes currently planned,
it is going to be a major development. Exhibitions have been
organised and early plans have been submitted. On Wednesday 14th
November, a development forum was organised to discuss the whole
project.
The
meeting was packed with residents with a range of concerns, most from
local housing associations. A wide range of issues were raised but
the general feeling was very much that the plan was ill-conceived.
The proposed buildings seem excessively high in places (up to 15
storeys), not taking sufficient account of people's right to light,
especially along Calthorpe Street and Farringdon Road. The design is
rather unimaginative and people felt it was inward-looking. Some
spaces in between buildings seem to have no public access, raising
the risk of creating gated communities. A public space has been
planned for, but it is still unclear who will own it and pay for its
maintenance. The danger that it could be lost to private interests in
the not-so-long term was raised.
Generally, in an area which lacks
public amenities, including a school which has been demanded for
years, it was felt that not much was on offer for the local community
and that the proposed development was simply too dense.
These
are obviously all legitimate demands and a plan that does not meet
such requirements should be resisted. However, given the current
housing crisis it is also true that more homes need to be
built in Islington. In a capitalist system, we will always be left
with different interests seeming to conflict with each other because
as long as basic human needs such as education, health or housing are
conceived of as services that have a cost and from which a profit can
be made, we will be left fighting for what we need. With the Mount
Pleasant redevelopment though, we can fight for our common interest,
for all our needs, including housing.
Due
to lack of time and bad organisation, the type of accommodation
that will be available at Mount Pleasant was not properly addressed
at the meeting though. So far Royal Mail say they do not know what
proportion of private / affordable / social housing there will be.
The design of the flats has deliberately been conceived so that they
could be used for either type of housing. The fact that no minimum
amount of social housing was ringfenced is not a good sign though.
The main worry of course is that whichever developer is contracted to
do the job will try to maximise profit by trying to pack in as many
private housing as possible. But who can afford such rents?
The
National Housing Federation has found that private sector rents have
risen 37% in the last 5 years, while wages and benefit levels have
actually gone down. Still, private rents are set to increase by a
further 35% over the next six years.
