Bid to save ‘secret garden’ shot down at Islington Council

Published: 15 October, 2010
by PETER GRUNER

A “SECRET garden” uncovered on a Highbury Park development site will be lost again under tons of concrete following a decision by a planning committee.

Pleas by former Green councillor Katie Dawson to save the 140-year-old garden, described as a wildlife “treasure”, fell on deaf ears at the Town Hall on Monday night.

The Labour-ruled committee voted six to two to allow the garden at the former National Children’s Home (now Action for Children charity) to be demolished.

A decision to demolish the garden had been deferred for a month because an insufficient number of the 145 new homes planned for the site were affordable.

But with an offer by developers to make 45 per cent of the homes affordable – the Labour target is 50 per cent – the scheme was considered worth supporting.

Labour councillor Phil Kelly said that while he was a supporter of green spaces, housing was a number one concern in the borough. 

“There are people without adequate space to live and many are ­living on the street without homes at all,” he said. “Our duty is to build more homes.”

Labour councillor Martin Klute suggested that wild life from the “secret garden” could be transplanted to another open space on the site. 

“It’s a difficult decision but the scheme does provide other areas of green space,” he added.

Lib Dem opposition leader councillor Terry Stacy, who supported Ms Dawson, said that the garden could enhance the development. 

“We have a moral responsibility to protect our open spaces”, he said.

Speaking after the meeting, Ms Dawson said she was very disappointed, adding: “They just don’t get it. This is a site that is untouched and has never been built on. It’s the last segment of Highbury Hill.

“You can’t dig a little bit up and put it in a Teletubby garden. We have a rare wildlife gem and now we are going to lose it. “

She said she understood the arguments for housing but argues we need “wildlife spaces as well as bricks and mortar if we are to have a human development.”

The overgrown garden is less than half an acre in size and nestles between office buildings. It was discovered by residents visiting the site last year during an exhibition of the plans for the site – as the Tribune reported at the time.

Rare fungi, insects – including yellow ants, – and green woodpeckers have been identified at the garden.

One of London’s leading wildlife experts, Dr Mark Spencer, a botanist with the London Natural History Society, had joined the call to save the garden.