Islington residents have become among the first in the city to take control of their estate to prevent council-enforced over-crowding.
A piece of land in Andover Estate, Finsbury Park, will be handed over from the council to the local community-run land trust group, named the Andover Estate Development Plan.
The residents say that Islington Council deny people who already live on the estate the chance to move out of homes that are too small for their families. Instead, the Council add to the over-crowding by bringing in new residents from elsewhere.
The Development Plan hopes to build 50 to 60 homes on the land, with estate residents to have re-housing priority, and will hold regular meetings to draw up designs before it approaches sponsors and government for funding.
Theresa Coyle, chief executive of the Finsbury Park Community Hub that came up with the concept, said: “If you stand still long enough they build on top of you in this borough. We’ve got some of the highest overcrowding with our own families on the estate. We’ve been the victims of a development where there’s been very little consultation.”
Ms Coyle added: “We thought: ‘How can we beat them to it, and get something out of it for the residents?’”
Tracey McGuire, a development plan steering group member, said: “You’ll have some people with six kids in two bedrooms. Everybody else just seems to get in before us; they come in from different boroughs, and [the Council] should be looking after their own.”
Michael O’Sullivan, councillor for the Finsbury Park ward, denied that new residents are a problem: “It’s not that they don’t like new people moving in, it’s just that some of the accommodation that they’re in is not suitable. The idea is to develop 60 new homes on spare land, and I think that’s an excellent idea.”
Architects and designers from organisation Open-City helped residents plan the changes, and spokesperson Suzie Zuber said: “This is an amazing opportunity for the local residents to take control of new development on their estate.”
my son lives in Islington does this mean id be refused a move there because i currently reside in Ipswich?
The article refers specifically to the Andover Estate, so I’m not sure we can draw any conclusions. It’s best to get in touch with the council if you are considering a move.