Retired planner Alec Forshaw lifts lid on 1970s campaigns which preserved our architectural crown jewels
Saved from roads that led to ruins
Published: 20th May, 2011
by PETER GRUNER
A FASCINATING insight into the battles to preserve Islington’s precious heritage is revealed for the first time in a new book by the borough’s former conservation officer.
Alec Forshaw, 59, who retired last year after 30 years as a planner, including 20 years as a conservation officer, has never spoken before about the pressures that came with the job.
In his book, 1970s London (Discovering the Capital), Cambridge graduate Mr Forshaw describes how developers would have demolished Highbury’s jewel in the crown, Union Chapel, closed the popular Chapel Market and turned the borough’s thriving Upper Street shopping centre into a semi-motorway.
“Forty years ago everything was up for grabs,” he said. “In those days the former Greater London Council just wanted to build roads. There was a public campaign against this: ‘Homes before Roads’.”
He added: “The Angel would have been destroyed if these road proposals had gone ahead. There was talk about a roundabout and even an underpass. The anti-road campaigners fought a brilliant battle against the plans. They deserved a medal.”
The book recalls how the Marquis estate, opened by the then Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, was praised as the finest in municipal housing. But its complicated labyrinth of alleys and passages soon made it a dangerous no-go area. The hideaways were later pulled down.
Mr Forshaw was determined that, where possible, perfectly decent homes should not be demolished to make way for tower blocks and estates. Planners had learned from the Packington estate “scandal” of the 1960s when good early Victorian houses and squares were needlessly demolished.
One of his biggest triumphs was saving St Luke’s church in Finsbury in 1958. Now it is a focal point of the community and home to the London Symphony Orchestra.
“Back then the church had been abandoned and there were proposals to demolish it and turn the site over to flats,” he saved. “We fought and won a campaign to keep the church and thank goodness we did. It’s such an important part of Islington’s history.”
Mr Forshaw is also proud of the part he played in developing Clerkenwell, and in particular Smithfield Meat Market, while protecting the industrial architecture of the area.
“Today, it is highly desirable but back in 1976 hardly anyone wanted to live in Clerkenwell,” he said. “We managed to persuade the City of London Corporation to spend £43million refurbishing the market rather than closing it down as had been planned.
“The next task was to turn old Clerkenwell industrial warehouses into homes. The estate agents said it could never be done. But they were wrong. Clerkenwell is now home to thousands of professionals.”
Mr Forshaw admits some battles against developers were lost in recent years.
They included the approval by the previous Lib Dem council, with British Waterways, of plans for two giant tower blocks overlooking City Road Basin on the Regent’s Canal.
The blocks have not been built yet due to the economic downturn and he believes there is still time to come up with a low-rise scheme more in keeping with the industrial heritage of the basin.
“The 1970s was when conservation really took root,” Mr Forshaw said. “Unlike many London boroughs, Islington has managed to maintain a lot of its unique history, its squares and houses, thanks to various sympathetic councils over the years. It’s why people like to live here.”
1970s London (Discovering the capital) by Alec Forshaw is published by History Press.