Islington North MP joins this week’s protest outside the Wellington Mews blocks which housed prison guards and their families

JEREMY Corbyn joined a protest outside Pentonville Prison this week as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) seeks to sell off two blocks of flats.

The Islington North MP joined a group of around 30 campaigners who gathered outside the Wellington Mews blocks which formerly housed prison guards and their families.

As the Tribune revealed last week, the MoJ is in the final stages of completing a deal that would see a tract of public land, which has two blocks with 28 flats on it, sold to property company LGP Wellington Mews Ltd.

The developer will only finalise the deal, however, if Islington Council approves a planning application that could excuse it from meeting a target of 50 per cent of the homes on the site being rented at affordable rates.

Mr Corbyn said: “The Ministry of Justice is selling off a group of properties at the back of Pentonville Prison. The council, quite correctly, tried to buy them in order to house local people in housing need.

Campaigners are calling for more council housing

“The Ministry of Justice upped the price and prevented Islington from doing that. So what are we doing? We’re demonstrating outside those places to say to the MoJ and everybody else: let us solve the housing crisis by filling the empty homes with people that need them.”

An MoJ spokesman rejected Mr Corbyn’s claim that it had “upped the price” on the land, insisting it was put out on the open market. The Tribune asked how much LGP Wellington Mews Ltd had offered the MoJ, but the spokesman declined to comment.

It is understood that the Town Hall was close to a deal with the MoJ in 2019 which could have seen the flats used as temporary accommodation for those in desperate need of homes but this fell through.

LGP Wellington Mews Ltd has submitted several applications for what is called in technical terms Certificates of Lawfulness for Existing Use or Development (CLEUD).

These would allow the company to redevelop the flats without having to seek full planning permission and in turn be asked to provide half of the homes at affordable rates.

As of last night, council officers had not made a decision on the latest applications. The Tribune contacted DP9, the consultancy firm representing LGP Wellington Mews Ltd, for a response.

A spokeswoman said it would not comment.

An MoJ spokesman said: “Last year, we agreed the sale of the property to a developer.

“The purchase is subject to the buyer being granted a certificate from Islington Council confirming that the premises can be used for Class C3 residential purposes.

“We will provide further updates in due course.”