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RUNNING bulldozers through Archway and starting again has been a fruitless plan for so long that Islington Council needs to stop waiting for a developer to show up like a knight in shining armour and work harder to improve local businesses, Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn has warned.
In a letter to the Town Hall, the Labour MP has written that Archway will deteriorate if a big supermarket is given free rein to build in the area as part of a wider redevelopment.
He said: “For the past 26 years I have responded to endless consultations about the future of the Archway Tower, the office blocks, the traffic planning for the area and the putative major developments on this site.
“Tragically, none of the proposals has ever come to fruition, and an enormous amount of time has been wasted on consultations, inevitably leading to a great deal of cynicism.
“Moreover, the lack of development or improvement has led to shops being closed in the mall and around the piazza, nothing being done to alleviate the wind tunnel effect of the high rise buildings, and a ‘blight’ on the whole area.”
Mr Corbyn says the best way forward now would be for the council to offer a carefully laid scheme to improve what was there already, warning the council not to “over-identify” with major developers.
He added: “The time of the local authority and others would be better spent on a systematic improvement of what we have, support for the reopening of the shops, and a return of the market to the area near the Tube station.
“Junction Road is a pleasant shopping street of mainly independent retailers and it is a good example of a community focal point.”
Kate Calvert of Better Archway Forum (BAF) said: “It’s excellent that Jeremy Corbyn is supporting us. He has always been extremely supportive of Better Archway Forum.”
Ms Calvert said the aims of the BAF have always been to improve Archway organically and incrementally, warning: “Outside investment won’t regenerate Archway it will only damage it. We can regenerate ourselves if we just get a little bit of the right support.
“If we can declutter, have support for local shops and pedestrian circulation, those small things will make a lot of difference.
“We don’t need millions of pounds to go into a hole in the ground, as Jeremy Corbyn very usefully says.”
She added: “We’re worried that this is setting us up for selling off the community centres. It claims we have more than we need but we really struggle to book space in Archway.
“The idea that a borough as dense and with as much need as Islington in the face of multiple deprivation wouldn’t need the space is ludicrous.”
Ms Calvert also called on Transport for London and Islington Council to “sort out the gyratory”, adding that it would be more beneficial than tackling the one at Highbury and Islington.
But Junction ward councillor Ursula Woolley said the council had no intention of trying to attract a major supermarket to Archway, adding: “Jeremy is saying concentrate on what’s already there and that’s what we are doing. We have £2million earmarked just for Archway.
“What Jeremy is saying makes a lot of sense. But I don’t understand why BAF are saying we’re trying to attract a big retail scheme. We’re not proposing a big retail development at Archway and we’re definitely not proposing cutting any community centres.
“We’ve concentrated a lot on getting things right on a local level. That’s why we’ve said we want local sustainable development, not massive private investment.”
ROISIN GADELRAB