“KEEP the football pitches on the ground!” shouted the protesters who stopped play this week to oppose council plans for Finsbury Leisure Centre.

Footballers from opposing teams came together on Wednesday evening to form the largest protest so far against proposals to rebuild the leisure centre in Norman Street.

The changes would see popular pitches put up on the roof and shrunk in size.

Lize Evers, an artist who lives in nearby Burnhill House, a social housing block in Norman Street, said: “The community are concerned we’re not being listened to. We’ve waited over a year- and-a-half for Islington Council to return our emails. We’ve waited for ward partnership meetings. They have not been listening to us whatsoever. Because to over-develop in the densest borough of Great Britain and strip our assets isn’t a solution to the housing crisis. We really want a dialogue. So if it takes coming on the pitches with the entire community, the footballers, then so be it.”

The pitches will be built on as part of Islington’s proposed scheme, which will see 100 families get new council homes and another 100 flats sold off privately to pay for the whole development.

Iana Petkova, Lize Evers and Francis Guerra of the EC1 Voices Campaign group

Included in its current design for the area – which is the least green in Islington and the second densest in the country – is a 20-storey tower block.

There are also concerns about loss of light to existing homes and that some trees could wither away and die without direct sunlight, according to an arboriculturalist hired by the community to assess the development’s potential impact. Another 20 trees that surround the football pitches are also likely to be cut down if the development goes ahead, they said.
Eamon Gately, who runs the City of London Football Club from the pitches and trains more than 200 youngsters a week, said his club would fold if the pitches are closed and added his voice to a constant call for a public meeting.

Campaigners have also made a formal complaint that the consultation was misleading and await news as to whether Islington will relaunch it.

A council spokesperson said they would only remove trees “where absolutely necessary” and pledged to plant new trees.

She said the new roof pitches would be “high quality” and said officers were “working hard” to find other “suitable locations” for footballers to play during construction.

She said assessments of the development’s impact on nearby buildings was “being undertaken” and insisted St Luke’s Gardens would still get sunlight from the east and the south.