Malika Hibu

RESIDENTS at the canal-side estate where a young girl drowned earlier this year have been told that they must “engage in the process” to ensure that a permanent fence gets planning approval from Islington Council.

Neighbours living in the Crest Buildings by the City Road Basin had a meeting last Thursday with Karen Sullivan, director of planning at Islington Council, and representa­tives from Peabody housing association to discuss the timeline, which will currently see the fences in place in February 2025.

Ms Sullivan told residents that she would “encourage them all individually or collectively to respond to the planning application” which Peabody is set to submit this week.

Residents had been advocating for a fence for five years before the tragedy when five-year-old Malika Hibu drowned in a stretch of canal that borders the estate.

At the inquest following Malika’s death on February 17, coroner Mary Hassell said: “They [Peabody] didn’t risk assess a very potentially dangerous situation. They didn’t act on complaints that were made, they didn’t try to make the barrier safer and then, even when they noticed, they sent one email and didn’t take any other steps till a week before Malika’s death, in which case it was too late.”

Elizabeth Connelly, Peabody’s senior land­scape construction manager, said of the timeline for the construc­tion of the fence: “There are some things we’re not in control of. But we are levering those relation­ships as much as we can, making sure that we are preparing so that we can ensure that it runs as smoothly as we can make it.”

But Ms Sullivan said that there was “still work for the residents to do” when the planning application is submitted, and the council will open it up to a three-week “consultation period”.

Residents said they felt frustrated that they were having to “project manage” the fence, despite having already engaged in multiple consultations with Peabody.

Martyn Perks, a resident who has been chairing meetings about the fence, told Ms Sullivan: “Arguably, we’ve already had a consultation with Peabody, it’s done. I know you’ve got to do your statutory consultation but for us, the reason why we’re in this room in the first place, it’s not because of due process.”

He added: “For five years, and a horrific tragedy, we’ve been put­ting up with a horrendous amount of crap. Anti-social behaviour, all sorts of shenanigans, which is largely because of something that happened in the planning process between Peabody, yourselves as the council, and the Canal & River Trust to have public access. The whole thing is a disaster. We’re here, very frustrated. Another 12 months to get this done, and we have to deal with all this crap. You have to understand our real annoyance and anger at having to do another consultation.”

Craig Stacey, who lives in the estate with his young children, asked what reasons could be given for it not to get plan­ning approval. He added: “It’s not a danger, it’s not going to be intruding on anyone. It’s a gate at the end of the day.”

Ms Sullivan, however, stressed that the consul­tation was part of the statuory planning process.

“People could object,” she said. “We’re not allowed to second guess what people might say.”