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

• THE Vorley Road site, Archway N19, is owned by Islington Council, so why build private housing on it that may never get sold or may get sold eventually at a discount? (Changing face of city sparks new homes fears, April 9).

The latter is already happening in King Square, Clerkenwell. Why not just build the much-needed social housing and forget about the rest?

The council have embarked on rather a lot of building of private housing, over 20 development schemes. Why? That often involves felling trees too, as we saw outside Dixon Clark Court by Highbury Corner.

Is that the best course of action for a cash-strapped council in highly polluted central London?

If 10 per cent of London residents have left in the last year, a combination of European Union people fleeing Brexit and others who moved during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, many to work from home in quieter places, it is not clear who would buy the private dwellings.

Those who can nowadays would like to work from home, at least some of the time, thus needing larger units than the small private flats on offer.

It is not clear that business will pick up after the pandemic either. We see redundant commercial properties now being rapidly sold off.

With Brexit making exports more difficult, or impossible for smaller companies, it is unlikely that more building, except for social housing, will be needed in the immediate future. Could the council convert some of the former commercial buildings to residential?

All of these factors point to a risk that the private units of what gets built in Vorley Road – as well as in other parts of Islington – and particularly the smaller ones, remain unsold or are sold at a discount or at a loss.

What that would mean for us who live here all the time is Islington Council further cutting services in order to recoup its money. Other local authorities have lost their investments when they tried to be private developers.

I would be grateful for a reply from Cllr Diarmaid Ward, executive member for housing and development, via the Tribune.

ANITA FRIZZARIN
Wedmore Gardens, N19