The proposed Windsor Street building 

• ISLINGTON Council has posted a notice for the Windsor Street development, which is going to cause great upset and distress for residents if it goes ahead.

It has three storeys, plus a basement, for a supported living scheme, which will include living accommodation for staff. This development is being advertised for planning permission with not one single consultation meeting with residents.

The council’s former housing executive member, James Murray, promised that there would be consultation meetings with residents of the Popham Street and Cummins estates, as this development will affect them greatly.

Not one meeting has been held. No emails sent to the council by myself on behalf of residents have been replied to.

This development is not suitable for the area. It is to be situated on a very small road which is already dark because of the buildings around it. The area where the garages and open parking spaces are gives the only light. The car parking spaces are required by residents, but the council rents 90 per cent of them to estate agents.

Residents with garages were moved there when the garages at Maryland Walk were sold to a storage company. Parking for residents, especially the many disabled ones, is limited, even on the streets.

The council has not shown any consideration for the impact on the community as a whole. This type of development needs houses on ordinary streets, not some kind of institution.

The fact that the St Peter’s ward councillors and MP have never been given information to pass onto constituents also shows how this is a case of a development being forced on residents at a time when the council is cutting budgets.

I object strongly to this development and demand on behalf of the residents of the Popham Street estate that a full consultation meeting is held – and properly advertised – before this goes before a planning committee.

I also object to the fact that the planning application was posted on a pole obscured by foliage and not easy to see, or was this the plan? Planning objections have to be received by January 29, so please lodge any objections quickly.

MARTIN RUTHERFORD
Popham Street estate, N1