Pallas Citreon

A PROPOSAL for temporary studio space in Highgate Hill has split artists in Archway.

Islington Council’s planning committee voted against SevenCapital’s application to turn the Archway Campus development into studio space for 800 artists for five years.

Members said the need for the studios had not been proven, and the Town Hall wanted more focus on social housing.

Objector Pallas Citreon, founder of Archway’s Bomb Factory art foundation, told the Tribune after the decision: “You bung some artists into a space, offer them a deal for a few years, and then you chuck them out. It improves the area for landlords to raise the prices in the area, but you don’t provide any long-term support for the community and the artists in it.”

Stephen Allbutt (right)

She added: “It would take out the existing studio providers because they would be able to offer something much cheaper, and we’d lose our cohort of artists. There’s loads of studio providers in Archway, and it will destroy all of those. What we really want is something in perpetuity.”

But Stephen Allbutt from Florence Trust spoke in favour of the studios. The Florence Trust was based in a converted church in Highbury for 30 years until running into difficulties.

Mr Allbutt told the Town Hall: “For us, this really was a potential to mitigate the fact that we’re losing our home of 30 years. The prospect of having a studio in this part of town is remarkable. And, for the Florence Trust, it would have increased our revenue over that period, possibly allowing us to come back to our original home and purchase that building.”

He added: “I can’t find a studio in the borough, and I’m getting text messages in this meeting from artists looking for studio space anywhere in London.”

Over the longer term, SevenCapital have drawn up plans for a new complex of flats and a 36-storey tower which is currently being considered by planners.

The company did not respond to the Tribune’s request for comment on the studios.