Islington: Council proposes to build new homes

Islington Council have proposed a new regeneration scheme in the area, designed to provide new housing to residents.

It recently announced that affordable housing would be built on the site of the former Ashmount School, if the scheme is given the green light.

The site that the housing would be built on is located in Archway, N19. The School closed in December 2012 when pupils moved to a modern school on a new site at nearby Crouch Hill Park.

However, rather than letting the land go to waste, the council want to use it as an extra space to house residents instead.

Despite the best efforts by the council to construct new homes for the area, there has been one stumbling block to their plan.

It reported that the Department for Education (DfE) instead wants to set up a free primary school in the area, which Islington Council argue is not needed.

Instead, they claim, Islington already has sufficient provisions for schooling in the borough. Now a report to the council's Executive proposes that half of the site is used for the new free school and half to provide affordable homes.

Commenting on the developments, councillor Joe Caluori, Islington Council's executive member for children and families, said that the report has been drawn up as part of a plan to make a compromise, which would see a school and housing provision made in the area.

Councillor Caluori, said: "We have shown we have plenty of planned primary school places in our schools, and that parents can already expect a first-rate education in Islington for their children. 

"Essentially we are proposing to split the Ashmount site in half, with half the site retained for approximately 50 affordable homes. This split would provide the free school with enough outside space to meet national guidance and would be comparable to other similar-sized schools in the borough, while also allowing us to build badly-needed affordable family homes."

Published 4th February, 2014

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