‘Second rate’ building scheme was approved, Council admits

Published: 2 April 2010
by ROISIN GADELRAB

COUNCILLORS have approved a “second-rate” complex of shops, offices and flats – which forces disabled residents to use “the goods entrance” – after the ­initial developers went into receivership.

The scheme, which is eight weeks from completion, ignores previous planning conditions requiring suitable disabled access, the provision of 11,000 sq ft of workshop space and the preservation of a historic plaque.

But south area committee chairman Liberal Democrat councillor George Allan warned that by insisting on good standards of design, the council may end up with nothing.

He said: “It may be half a loaf but better than no bread: a bird in the hand...

“We realise this is a second-rate proposal but the time for perfection has gone. 

“We have to be not absurdly idealistic, we have to be practical.”

Among the unpopular amendments was a plan to build a disabled lift to some of the flats, around the corner from the main entrance.

Residents complained this would block their light and councillors questioned the decision to force disabled residents and visitors to be separated from the main entrance.

Labour councillor Martin Klute argued that sending disabled people round the back of the development was “the opposite of inclusive design”, adding: “Disabled people should be treated as similarly as possible to other people and they should not be sent round to the goods entrance. 

“Islington spends a lot of time promoting equality. We’re approving a second-rate scheme.”

Receivers took control of the complex, which spans St John Street, Brewhouse Yard and Compton Passage, after the previous developers, UCM, appointed by St John Street Ltd, were declared solvent.

Agents for GVA Grimley, on behalf of the Anglo Irish Bank, said they were applying for planing permission after discovering some of the scheme had not been built according to the plans.

They claim that if they are forced to comply with the conditions, the scheme may never be complete.

The committee heard how a second condition, requiring a historic plaque to be preserved, was unworkable as the plaque had since disappeared.

Planning officers say they have failed to trace any record of it, and so it cannot be replicated.

The most controversial amendment is the request to no longer build 11,000 sq ft of affordable workspace, kept at less than 50 per cent of market rents.

Instead, the receiver offered £40,000 towards similar workshops and schemes elsewhere in the borough.

Cllr Klute said the money was “derisory” and the exclusion of the workshops would be a loss to the area, describing the application as “pretty outrageous”, adding: “The idea of affordable workshops is emerging policy in the council. It’s absolutely extraordinary that the chairman should go against this.”

Losing the plaque, he said, “sounds like deliberate carelessness”.

His motion to ask the developer to come back with better plans for the lift and a reduced workshop application was not passed.

Panel chairman George Allan said the plan was “second rate” but feared the scheme would never be complete if permission wasn’t granted.

Having a separate disabled lift in a different street was “unfortunate” but. He said it was difficult to see an alternative.

Lib Dem councillor Marisha Ray insisted the fact that the scheme having fallen into financial difficulty should not be a deciding factor, abstaining from the final vote.

She asked that records be checked to see if a replacement plaque could be provided.

The applicant representing GVA Grimley, on behalf of the Anglo Irish Bank, said: “The affordable workspace is a considerable amount of the development – it’s 15 per cent of the floor space. 

“If we have a flexible permission to that space we have a greater chance of achieving a tenant and a greater chance of completing it.”

The scheme was passed in spite of concerns from residents over loss of daylight and nearly two hours of rigorous questioning and debating from the planning committee.