EC1 Voices members Lize Evers and Iana Petkova at a meeting at the leisure centre last night (Thursday)

COMMUNITY activists have joined forces to take on council plans to build a 20-storey tower block on the site of the Finsbury Leisure Centre – and described their dismay at discovering the new football pitches will be less than half the size they are now.

At a busy public meeting on Tuesday evening, residents formed an alliance called EC1 Voices to unite against plans to pull down the 50-year-old centre in Norman Street.

Eva Guerra, from Paton Street, said: “The question is why a site that is well-loved and well-used – and actually critical for maintaining the community connective tissue of the area – why they are not exploring other options, like empty homes or other sites in the area?”

Her husband, Francis Guerra, who works in planning, warned: “For me, once this is lost, it’s lost forever, for all future generations as well.”

He questioned why no homes had been allocated at the nearby Moorfields Eye Hospital redevelopment.

Islington’s deputy leader Diarmaid Ward has been passionate about the scheme providing homes for the 15,000 people on their housing list, while the ward’s three councillors are also in support of the scheme – although Councillor Valerie Bossman-Quarshie has called for “like for like” on the football pitches.

Damian, aged seven, and Leo, Marcos and Rohan, who are all eight, after their training session with City of London FC at the Finsbury Leisure Centre pitches

Last week the Tribune reported that residents living in nearby buildings were worried about losing light and privacy. The development will feature just under 200 new homes – including just under 100 council homes and a new health centre – along with a skyscraper.

Yesterday (Thursday) planners met with footballers to try to reassure them but faced an uphill struggle convincing them that losing 54 per cent of their pitch was for the best.

The designs will see the pitches relocated to the roof of the centre, when it’s completed in 2027, and shrunk by 2,000 square metres. The current pitches are just under 3,700m2 while the new ones will be 1,683m2.

A petition against the development has passed the 2,000 signature mark.

Simon Weitzman, 58, first booked a pitch at the site in 1994 and has been organising games there on Tuesdays and Thursdays ever since. With around 40 people ready to play for each 12-a-side game, he said demand already far outweighed what’s available, and questioned where those footballers would go during and after development.

Simon Weitzman (right) with John Clemmow, who has lost weight since playing football at Finsbury

Planners have defended the reduction, saying they are FA regulation-size pitches.

Iana Petkova, whose son uses the pitches, said: “There’s just so few outdoor sports facilities in this area and it’s the most densely populated area of Islington, and Islington is the second most densely populated area in London.”

She warned the council had admitted the new pitches – alongside all the facilities in the new leisure centre – would be more expensive than now.

Last week residents’ leader Trevor Hankins called for a public meeting over the redevelopment and said the need for housing should not be balanced against the need to keep young people safe and engaged with sport.

Islington deputy leader Cllr Ward said: “Local people deserve decent places to live and better leisure facilities, and these proposals will deliver both. This includes four new rooftop football pitches, built to the Football Association’s guidelines for five or six-a-side football. They will be high quality and part of a new first-class leisure centre with much better changing rooms, equipment and sports facilities that will benefit everyone who uses the centre.

“We understand the current facilities are well-loved by some users and are talking to groups who play football at the centre to try to address their concerns. We’re committed to working with the community to strike the right balance.”