An artist’s impression of the proposed scheme in Archway. Image: Islington Council

• ISLINGTON Council seems determined to press ahead with plans for the proposed Vorley Road development despite the depressed property market for new one- and two-bedroom build flats.

Cllr Diarmaid Ward claims Islington needs to build and sell private flats in the new development to pay for the new council properties but seems to be ignoring the evidence of falling demand across the capital, including Archway.

There is already a glut of one- and two-bedroom flats on the market in central London as many young professionals gravitate out of the city in the fall-out of the pandemic.

The GLA Quarterly Housing Market Report (March 2021) states that house prices are reported to have increased slightly in the last year, probably in response to the stamp duty holiday, but weakening asking prices indicate that this growth is unlikely to last.

You only have to look next door to the proposed development for evidence of this demographic shift. The Land Registry reveals only 34 of the 140 flats in Hillhouse have sold since the new development came on to the market in 2018.

Clearly it makes no financial sense to build more of the same literally next door, especially as building costs have risen dramatically post pandemic. We need fewer private flats and more affordable lower density housing with outside space.

Cllr Ward and his colleagues need urgently to reconsider their development plan, or the council’s balance sheet, and more importantly the needs of the local community, will pay a heavy price.

ZADOC NAVA, N19