Charity London’s Gypsies and Travellers has said the community faces a severe shortage of homes in Islington after sites earmarked by the council were declared “unsound”.
Planning inspectors ruled that Islington Council’s reallocation proposals for three sites – two on Junction Road and a third in Highbury – were unsuitable, in a letter seen by the City Press.
The site at 207A Junction Road, where the UK’s only Shaolin Chan Buddhism Temple is located, is owned by Transport for London (TfL), which has leased the land to temple management until 2026.
Inspectors at Jonathan Manning LC Masters said that since TfL have no current plans to sell the site, it cannot be “considered available or deliverable”.
Similarly, inspectors deemed the site at 154 Junction Road unsound as representatives for Network Rail – which owns the site – confirmed it is not currently seeking to redevelop or dispose of the site.
Inspectors found that the third site at 71 Ronalds Road ”has a number of constraints”, including close proximity to a railway line and a tunnel that runs directly below the site.
They noted potential noise and vibration and found that, in the absence of evidence that these problems can be mitigated by the council, the site will not provide suitable living conditions for Traveller residents.
In a statement to City Press, a representative for London’s Gypsies and Travellers said: “The planning system has failed to accommodate the needs of Romany Gypsy and Traveller Londoners for decades.
“This, alongside the everyday discrimination that the communities continue to face, means there is an acute shortage of culturally suitable homes for them.”
The charity’s spokesperson said the inspectors’ decision will mean “further delays in delivering the homes” in Islington that are urgently needed by the Gypsy and Traveller community..
The letter comes after the Shaolin Temple management, as well as residents of Highbury, objected to the council’s proposed reallocation.
Over 12,000 people signed the temple’s petition protesting the proposed changes to the Junction Road site, calling the temple a “fundamental pillar of the community”.
A similar petition opposing reallocation of the site on Ronalds Road argued that the site “totally unsuitable to be designated as a caravan site for Gypsies & Travellers”. Reasons include how the reallocation would be an “inefficient use of the land compared to its current designation for social housing”.
In its response to the planning inspectors’ decision, the council’s Planning Committee said it would remove the three sites from the current draft Site Allocations document.
