Youngsters protesting against the Ocado depot earmarked for land next to their school

THREE years ago, when a group of community campaigners first locked horns with an online grocery delivery company that wanted to build a depot next to a primary school, they probably did not think they would still be fighting over that same patch of land.

But last week they finally got the call they had waited so long for with confirmation from Islington’s planning chiefs that Ocado’s third appeal had failed.

It’s not the end of the battle as the company still have further appeals ahead over their intentions for the Bush Industrial Estate in Station Road submitted to the Planning Inspectorate. But it still marks another victory for the campaign – set up largely to protect children at Yerbury Primary School in Tufnell Park from traffic fumes.

Parents and supporters raised £70,000 for the NOcado group as the case went through the legal hoops and various hearings, and now they want to go further and see planning laws amended for the whole country.

They are meeting MPs in the hope of empowering other community groups who face similar development battles with a law that would see that depots cannot be situated within 400 metres of any community assets including primary school playgrounds.

This is based on the concern that hundreds of vans trundling along nearby roads can only be harmful for children’s lungs.

Community Interest Company, The Lorax Initiative, which they launched last year published a report in December detailing the challenges facing communities as e-commerce grows, and with it the mushrooming of warehouses.

NOcado’s Fenella Grey said: “I think we’ve been highly impactful. It’s been a very effective collection of people who have brought all sorts of different skills, bring lots of determination and commitment to fight it.

“And you know, I tell you, the last three years there has been, every Tuesday night, a weekly meeting between the core campaigners between 9pm and 10.30pm. Everybody has families, you know, time commitments. And it’s that level of time and care and energy and work that’s gone into it.”

Describing how they felt when they got the call, she said: “We’re relieved. Obviously we’re happy, and not surprised actually, but it’s good to see the council’s response being definitive. I think that that has been very reassuring for the local community. It’s not just a flat no, it’s a flat no with quite a powerful explanation why.”

Ocado has always said that it is aiming to serve the community as one in six of Islington residents use its services.

A press officer for the company said: “Ocado is committed to having a positive impact on the local community. This would be the greenest and quietest grocery facility in the UK, and we would commit to using a 100 per cent electric van fleet – replacing the vans that currently deliver in the area – and install a green ‘living wall’ along the boundary (with the school). It would also create around 300 new jobs for the local economy.”