People-friendly streets scheme: ‘Highbury Hill is overwhelmingly residential with few businesses within it’

• IN his letter criticising the Highbury West people-friendly streets scheme, Richard Smith writes “no detailed consideration seems to have been given to protect the businesses trapped within”, (Scheme is blocking streets and imprisoning people, November 27).

As a resident of Highbury Hill he should know the area concerned is overwhelmingly residential with few businesses within it.

Going from north to south the businesses are:

– a pub at the north end of St Thomas’s Road which remains accessible via Rock Street and St Thomas’s Road;

– another pub on the corner of Blackstock and Monsell roads which remains accessible from Blackstock Road;

– a couple of restaurants in Chatterton Road which remain accessible from Blackstock Road;

– a small parade of shops on Gillespie Road between Avenell and Plimsoll roads and two food outlets at the east end of Gillespie Road which all remain accessible via Blackstock and Gillespie roads;

– a small Tesco in Drayton Park which remains accessible via Holloway Road and Drayton Park.

And that’s it. I take this from a map of the scheme in a leaflet from the council.

The scheme is also described at www.islington.gov.uk/peoplefriendlystreets. My late wife and I moved into Romilly Road, which is within the scheme, 39 years ago.

STEPHEN HORNE
Romilly Road, N4