Canal basin plaza better off without bulky towers

YOUR photograph showed a group of property developers and planners celebrating the opening of the new plaza at the head of City Road Basin (New basin makes a splash, December 25).
And you may wonder why they all had such big smiles. The plaza was supposed to be paid for by developers of the 900 flats planned for the canal basin, but instead £2.2million of public funds was obtained from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for its construction.
Those happy smiling faces belong to developers who will be millions better off when (or if) the tower developments are ever built.
There is no criticism of the plaza, which is a wonderful open space that I hope will be put to good use by the residents and public who paid for it.
However, it leaves a sour taste when we know that consent for the two huge and unpopular towers was driven through, and that we were told that the towers had to be very high and enormous in order to pay for the plaza and open space around the basin. Not a nice trick for Islington Council to allow the developers to play on the public.
Perhaps we will get satisfaction from the prospect that the towers will never get built because when the recession finally ends they will be out of date, and certainly well out of fashion these days.
There is hope that the plaza will prosper without the threat of two bulky towers looming over Islington’s new and attractive open space.
Del Brenner
Regents Network
Member of London Waterways Commission