Yehia El-Nemer ran the café for 23 years

ALMOST the entirety of the half a million pounds allocated for a new café in Highbury Fields had been spent before spades ever hit the ground, it has been revealed.

Islington Council spent £497,000 on consultations, project managers, and planning surveys over a period of more than eight years, before deciding to scrap the project altogether.

The funds come from Section 106 contributions – money private developers pay to the council when they build something new – and £551,000 of this pot had been set aside for a new building in the park.

Plans were shelved in July, however, after the Town Hall said building a new cafe was now “not affordable”.

This decision came after the previous owner of the café, who had operated it for 23 years, had been told to shut up shop for the transformation.

Yehia El-Nemer, who ran the Oasis In The Park, had talked about his concerns about Islington’s handling of the revamp as long ago as 2018 when he told the Tribune he fear for the future of his business. He feared earlier this year that there would be no new unit to return to.

The new figures, which were revealed in a Freedom of Information request seen by the Tribune, have sparked questions about why it took the council so long to start work.

Constant delays to projects across the borough often lead to spiralling costs as the price of construction rockets year on year.

Kate Pothalingam

Kate Pothalingam, a Liberal Democrat campaigner who had been involved with the project since its inception, said: “It’s obviously important that the council does consult and engage with the public but it is disappointing that, at the end of many many years and hundreds of thousands of pounds, demolition hasn’t even begun.”

According to Ms Pothalingam, original designs were largely thought to be too ambitious, and had sparked backlash from Highbury residents.

She told the Tribune: “If they had listened to the community in the first place, we might have had a design that was more appropriate. Had they gone with what we proposed instead, they might have started work before Covid, before the war in Ukraine, before costs rose so much. Progress could have been made.”

Town Hall chiefs are now reportedly in conversation with Ms Pothalingam, as well as former Labour mayor Jenny Sands, and her architect husband Charles over their proposals for a more modest café, the design and building of which, they argue, would come in at under the council’s total budget of £1.3million.

“People feel very strongly that the café should be retained and they will be expecting the council to do something about it,” Ms Pothalingam added. “This is comfortably within the council’s budget. We are very aware that as every month goes by, cost increases. This is a pragmatic solution.”

The Dusty Knuckle food van has been operating in the park on a temporary agreement.

Labour councillor Rowena Champion, the Town Hall’s environment chief, said that the original design had received “strong community support” and was “independently costed and deemed deliverable within the budget”.

But she added: “Unfortunately, both material and construction costs have risen exponentially. Despite our best efforts to work with the contractors to reduce the costs, including exploring design changes, the current design for the café building has proven unaffordable in today’s challenging economic climate.

“We are still moving the project forward with new public toilets and a park keeper’s office and store. There will also be a dedicated area for food and drink, which could be a fixed or mobile service, or a small café with a seating area. We are currently reviewing options including those put forward by the community.”

Mr El-Nemer said earlier this year: “The council have been messing me around for 22 years, and the community keep asking me what is going on. They know how disappointed I was and how disappointed the whole community has been.”