Importance of NCH site

Published: 11 June, 2010

• PAUL Convery assures us his new, centralised, planning committee consists of experts, who will prevent the kind of excessive development that Greens are concerned about (Leave it to the experts, June 4). 

The committee will soon have an opportunity to demonstrate this, when considering the recently revised application to redevelop the NCH site in Highbury Park, which still proposes building all over a garden which, in Islington’s inner-city situation, is remarkably large and species rich.   

The UN has declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, a unique opportunity to increase understanding of its vital role in sustaining life on Earth. People all over the world are working to safeguard this irreplaceable richness of natural wealth which is vital for current and future human wellbeing, and we need to do our part by thinking globally and acting locally.

Two thirds of the NCH site has been built on previously and is brownfield land entirely appropriate for redevelopment as housing. The remainder is a rare patch of valuable grassland which needs to be protected. Councillor Convery and his expert colleagues on the committee have the opportunity to celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity by creating a local nature reserve which will enhance both the development and the borough. Or they can show two fingers to this important initiative and allow a unique patch of nature to disappear under yet another excessive development. 

Tribune readers have until June 19 to let the committee know which they prefer.

ANDREW MYER
Islington Green Party