Labour Councillors representing the Cally neighbourhood in Islington

The site at Canonbury Road is mainly used for surface car parking. It has excellent housing potential. But it needs a different scheme.

Councillors on the West Area planning committee voted unanimously on Thursday 4th March to reject a planning application to develop a complex of 134 apartments near Highbury Corner. Over 600 objection letters had been received by the Council and many amenity and conservation societies in the Borough had voiced their opposition.

For many years, the site known as 85 Canonbury Road, had been a Ford car dealership. It’s now a slightly run-down and under-used site which has excellent potential for housing. What’s more, the application was from a large housing association which promised that nearly a half of the new flats would be “affordable” homes. But the arguments to turn the plans down were very powerful.

Put simply, the building was just too high and would fit very badly in the setting of the adjoining conservation area. It would be much larger and taller than the Council had previously indicated would be acceptable in a planning framework for the site. Some nearby houses would have suffered significant loss of light.

Worst of all, just 49% of the homes would be affordable. And only 60% of these would be socially rented (the rest being “intermediate tenure”). And the bulk of these affordable homes would be 1 or 2 bedroom flats when our policy is to ensure larger homes suitable for families.

The Labour Councillors were outraged that a housing association was only offering half of the flats as affordable. Labour Councillors and members of the public had objected saying that a registered social landlord (RSL) should provide a higher proportion of affordable homes. Incredibly, the Notting Hill Housing Trust wrote to the Council saying it was “a misconception” that because a site was being developed by an RSL rather than a private developer, “it could or should include a higher proportion of affordable homes”.

Councillor Paul Convery who is chair of the planning committee roundly criticised Notting Hill Housing Trust saying “the primary purpose of an RSL is to provide a high proportion of affordable homes, preferably socially rented ones. After all, RSLs enjoy considerable advantages over private developers. They have exclusive access to grants and subsidy from the Government; they have a special partnership status with local authorities; they pay no corporation tax and get business rate rebates because they are charities; they are exempt from many of the EU ‘state-aid’ rules; they can borrow capital more cheaply than private developers; and they have no shareholders demanding profits and dividends. It is therefore staggering that Notting Hill Housing Trust claims to be in exactly the same position as a private developer.”

All six Councillors voting on Thursday evening were Labour members. Two of the six Councillors were Caledonian Ward’s Paul Convery (chair of the committee) and Rupert Perry (immediate past chair of the committee). Over the past 4 years, Labour has made affordable housing a top priority and has acted with determination to use the local planning systemto maximise affordable homes in the West Area of Islington. The 4 wards making-up West Area are St Marys, Barnsbury, Caledonian and Holloway. Ten out of the twelve Council seats in the West Area are held by Labour.

Throughout our neighbourhood there is a sense of profound shock following the death of a local teenage girl. There has been intense police activity since the afternoon of Thursday 4th March in Outram Place and surrounding streets. The police named 16 year old Jessie Wright as the victim who was found at about 3.30pm on Thursday. Her family, many friends and neighbours are grieving their loss.

The identity of the man being held was known to many people locally. His home was being examined by police forensic officers over the weekend. A post-mortem was held on Friday with the cause of death reported as being compression of the neck. The Police are still not fully certain about the circumstances of her death and a spokesman for the Met Police has said that “an open mind is being kept as regards a motive.”

The body was found behind the block of flats at 21-36 Outram Place which is a secluded area now mainly used by HfI for storage. The whole area was sealed off for several days. Several specialist police squads are in the area still and PCSOs and PCs from several Safer Neighbourhood Teams have been undertaking reassurance visits throughout the estate. A leaflet appealing for witnesses has been distributed throughout the neighbourhood.

Councillor Paul Convery says “This is a traumatic incident for our neighbourhood. When a young life is taken pointlessly on our streets, we are all deeply disturbed and distressed by it. Everyone’s sympathies and prayers go out to Jessie’s family, neighbours and her friends.”

Detectives urged anyone with information about her last known whereabouts to contact them and they are also appealing for any information about any person behaving suspiciously around Outram Place. Anyone with information should call the incident room on 020 8345 2985 or the anonymous Crimestoppers line 0800 555 111.

Updated at https://callylabourcouncillors.org.uk/2010/03/07/local-youth-charged-with-murder-of-jessie-wright/

London Friend is at 86 Caledonian Road

London Friend is a charity based at 86 Caledonian Road in the parade of shops just south of the junction with Killick Street. Islington Council is increasing its rent by 25% at a time when funding is getting quite difficult for an organisation that has never relied on the Council for support. Labour’s Councillors in Caledonian Ward have taken 3 actions to help the charity get through this financially tough time – and offset the effect of Islington Council’s rent increase.

Founded in 1972, London Friend is one of London’s oldest charities that provides counselling and support services for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. London Friend has accumulated a deficit from previous years and has found that as a result of the rent rise it has warned that it may have to “reduce, suspend or close” some current services. Newly appointed Chief executive Matthew Halliday has he expects some services would have to be cut over the rise and that he was “preparing for the worst”.

Islington Council has sold almost every single one of the shops that it once owned; many of the parades on Caledonian Road went in the last huge sell-off; nearly all went in a job lot to a property company which has been quietly hiking-up rents and winkling-out the distinctive shops and other small traders; remarkably, the London Friend building still remains in Council hands. But the Council’s agents are now behaving exactly like any other commercial operator and putting the squeeze on their tenants

Obviously, no-one is seriously suggesting that Islington should let its properties at unrealistically subsidised rents. But the whole point about holding property is the Council can assist certain types of businesses or charities which are of benefit to the community. Labour’s Caledonian team is committed to protecting valued voluntary organisations and local businesses that supply the sort of goods and services that residents actually want.

This increase in rentals on the lower part of Caledonian Road is a sharp reminder that the “Kings Cross effect” seems alive and well (at least in the minds of commercial property surveyors and valuers). This effect has been well documented and reported by businesses around Kings Cross. Rising rents threaten established “normal” shops and businesses, and without careful control, threaten to Covent Garden-ise the lower end of Caledonian Road.

Back to London Friend … Labour’s Councillors in Caledonian Ward have taken three immediate actions:

• Established that London Friend is eligible for (and is currently not receiving) a 100% discount on its business rates – this is a discretionary rate relief available to charities that the Council can grant entirely at its own discretion ; we have written to the Council’s Director of Finance to request this relief is applied to London Friend
• Written to the Lib Dem Leader of the Council and suggested that he intervene to prevent the rent rise being implemented
• Asked the senior management of the Council to consider sources of modest financial grant aid for London Friend to help the organisation through its difficult financial spell.

Councillor Paul Convery says “For over 25 years, Islington has been a Borough at the forefront of support for London’s gay community. But the Council no longer funds any charities especially those like London Friend that provide valued counselling and advice services. It’s crazy that such a worthwhile charity should be pushed into financial difficulty because Islington Council is behaving like any other rapacious landlord”.

Councillor Rupert Perry adds: “The Liberal Democrats on Islington Council have recently complained about the effect in Islington of the latest reassessment of rateable values which have caused some business rates to increase. So, it’s pretty ironic that they put up the rent of one of their own properties and then charge the charity full rates.”

Pappeos club at 169-171 Caledonian Road - loud music through the night

The very word “planning” can cause eyes to glaze over. But the planning system exists to deliver real benefits for residents – providing you have active and determined residents and Councillors determined to make the system work in the public interest and not just to help developers make more money. The way that land is developed is a key to the character of a neighbourhood. And the small details of planning consents are the main levers of influence that residents can rely on to make sure that some business owners do not take liberties.

Caledonian ward councillors, Rupert Perry and Paul Convery have been tough minded members of Islington Council’s west area planning committee since their election in 2006. Paul is the current chair of the committee and Rupert is the most recent past chairman. They have pushed hard to increase the affordable housing in our area but also use their position to make sure that planning control helps residents on a day-to-day basis.

An example has emerged this week which demonstrates how the Borough’s planning powers can be used to prevent abuses by some landowners … providing that the powers are firmly in the hands of people determined to get a result.

There’s an anonymous-looking double-fronted shop unit at 169-171 Caledonian Road which is called Pappeo’s and it turns out to be a venue hosting all-night club gigs. That’s great if you’re a 24 hour clubber. But it’s dreadful if you live anywhere nearby. Residents were outraged last weekend when the place ran a club night until 6am. Loud music with a heavy bass beat disturbed neighbours right through the night. Worse still, the back doors were opened onto Edward Square (a much treasured local park that is fastidiously locked at night) and the entire square was used as a spillout and smoking area for patrons. Quite outrageously their website even says that they have an “outside area” and illustrate this with pictures of the “park facing the back entrance of the club”.The club does not have a back entrance at all. It has an emergency exit into the park.

How can they do any of this? Incredibly, Pappeo’s recently failed to get a normal entertainment and alcohol license but has been able to host these events using a clever legal loophole. This permits them to use a Temporary Event Notice (“TEN”) to run up to 12 events a year. They can operate up to 5am with music, dancing and serve alcohol without going through any of the normal licensing channels or having any limitation on hours. Sadly the Council’s licensing people told residents there was little they could do about it.

Well there is something that can be done about it. The club does not have planning consent to be used like this at all. A planning permission granted in 2002 was to change the former Caledonian Banqueting Rooms “from a club/dance hall/banquetting suite to a cafe/bar”. Furthermore, its hours were restricted with a key condition prohibiting operation after 11.30pm Monday to Sunday.

Frustratingly, neither the Council’s licensing officers nor the police had thought about this. So the Councillors told them. Now an enforcement case has been opened and planning technical officers will visit the club and neighbours in the next few days.

Paul Convery adds: “Do we want to stop people enjoying themselves of an evening? Absolutely not. But it’s completely wrong to cause disturbance until dawn. And it’s unforgiveable to flout planning conditions that were applied precisely to prevent this kind of nuisance. We are pressing the enforcement team to make sure these unacceptable activities cease”.

Thornhill Square is Islington’s largest residential square and it retains much of the architectural features of the 1840s when it was built. Many of the houses were bought by the Council in the 1970s and, before the Square got its Conservation Area status and the buildings were listed, quite a few houses were converted into flats. There are many families in the Square and many of the residents have lived there a long time. So it has both diversity and a very settled feeling to the place. Neighbours really do know each other. Not surprisingly, family houses are exceptionally expensive but the residents do not see themselves as living in isolation from the surrounding neighbourhood – especially the Council-built housing estates west of Caledonian Road.

Steve Griffiths, the senior youth worker at Copenhagen Youth Project (CYP) gave an excellent talk to Thornhill Square Residents Association last night. Many of the residents are very closely involved in wider community affairs and the children’s playground and gardens in the square are a very popular open space for the wider neighbourhood. So the Residents Association takes a close interest in the many ways they can help to achieve a stronger and more cohesive community here. Steve cogently explained the overall strategy towards engaging young people in the neighbourhood and how the different youth organisations work together.

As a result of Steve’s talk, the Residents Association agreed to donate £2,000 to CYP. They also decided to encourage other households in the square to match the contribution with personal donations.

Filming a Poirot episode in the square last Summer

Now £2,000 is quite a lot of money for a residents association to donate from its own funds. But Thornhill Square has a smart source of money – from film and TV productions in the square. Last year there were two large productions using the square for location filming: an episode of the new season of award-winning Criminal Justice; and scenes for ITV’s long running series, Poirot. The donation represents what they earned last year from these shoots (and a little bit more).

Paul Convery attended last night’s meeting to talk about getting the Council to renew the railings around the park which have suffered some damage over recent years. He said “I am a keen supporter of CYP and, not surprisingly, I was pleased to hear Steve’s talk. But I was mightily impressed by the determination of the Residents Association to support CYP by handing-over their entire windfall income (plus some more) . Admirable generosity indeed, I was speechless… almost.”

6th February 2010

Rupert, Paul and Charlynne have signed-up to the Equality Trust’s candidate pledge.

For almost two decades, Britain has been one of the most unequal of the world’s richest countries. The latest research shows how harmful this is to the social fabric of our society. Almost all social and environmental problems – ill-health, lack of community life, violence, drugs, obesity, mental illness, long working hours, big prison populations – are more likely to occur in less equal societies.

By signing the Equality Pledge we have confirmed our commitment to reducing the gap between rich and poor, improving the quality of life for everyone.

The Equality Pledge: “Compelling new evidence presented by The Equality Trust shows that more equal societies – those with a narrower gap between rich and poor – are more cohesive, healthier, suffer fewer social problems and are more environmentally sustainable. In view of these findings I am committed to making the UK a more equal society as the most effective means of building a better society. I will therefore actively support the case for policies designed to narrow the gap between rich and poor; and engage with the debate on which measures should be implemented to achieve that aim.”

The Equality Pledge is not restricted to candidates for office. We encourage all members of the public who agree with this declaration to commit their support too. You can do it online here: http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=118&ea.campaign.id=5405

4th February 2010

Cllr Rupert Perry at Frederica Street gardens

When elected in 2006, we promised to sort out the patch of derelict land on Frederica Street between the Caledonian Road corner and the entrance to Bunning Way. It was a well worn cut-through for Bunning Way residents but it was also a hang-out for street drinkers and a pick-up spot for sex workers. Most people said that, after dark, it was a no-go zone for passers-by.

In early 2009, we finally got the all-clear to use some Safer Neighbourhood cash and Greenspace money to turn this into a decent patch of greenery with a sensible laid-out path. The work was carried-out in the Autumn so the planting areas are still protected behind temporary fencing. In the Spring, it will look great.

Rupert Perry says “It can take ages to get simple environmental improvements done around here but residents are very pleased that, at last, we have managed to get a troublesome patch of waste ground turned into a welcoming and pleasant area”.