Packington Shops Planning Application refused

Signs up outside Prebend Express today after the decision.

Hyde Homes have completely underestimated the strength of public feeling against putting a supermarket in their estate. It will undermine all the existing convenience stores in the area, and they intend to kick out The Precinct Community Theatre without offering them a new home.  At a packed planning meeting last night I convinced the committee to refuse the application.  Here is the text of my speech:

"Members of the committee I am standing down on this item in order to represent the views of my constituents against this application.


Hyde Housing, who are the Social Landlord redeveloping the Packington Estate, took on the Estate with an undertaking to replace "like with like". The old Estate has a Precinct of small shops, including a convenience store, a dentist, a chiropractor, and a community theatre. This parade of shops is designated a "protected shopping centre". The redevelopment reprovides this retail space, but in a more visible location on the edge of the estate. The original officer’s report describes the relocated shops as a “parade of shops”.

Planning permission states that Hyde should continue to provide small shop units in order to "protect the role of the protected shopping centre to provide a variety of and range of local services". Islington’s positive support for small independent retail is clearly documented in our emerging Development Management policies and does not require further justification. All of the current tenants of the Precinct have expressed a wish to relocate to the new units, and most are represented here this evening. The Precinct Theatre’s bid for space in the new development is also strongly supported by Mhora Samuel, Director of the Theatre’s Trust, also here this evening.

Hyde However, have decided to ignore local feelings, and the needs of existing tenants, not to mention a raft of planning policy protection, and propose to amalgamate six of the units, in order to let to a supermarket franchise, which they have more or less admitted to me is a ‘commercial decision’.

Hyde either don’t realise the extent to which they have mis-judged the strength of local feeling about both the loss of the Community Theatre, and the threat to the existing small Convenience Stores in the area, or, as seems more likely, they just don’t care. In less than a week we have collected over 1500 signatures against this application (wave petition). Perhaps this petition will make Hyde sit up and listen. It shows just how passionate local people are about their local community facilities and their local shops.
The Precinct provides a range of small shops and houses the Precinct Theatre. In planning terms, there has been no material change of circumstances that would suggest that the loss of these protected small units would now be acceptable. It is also incorrect of Hyde to argue that a Supermarket in this location would provide retail amenity otherwise unavailable in the area, since there is Nisa, Londis and Co-Op available on the New North Road, and Tesco at Islington Green, all within 300m of the location, an accessible walking distance as defined in our retail policies.

What members of the committee should ask themselves is: If a large supermarket in this location puts all the existing small convenience stores in the area out of business, and puts an end to the Precinct Theatre, is that fair competition, or significant harm to local amenity? I would suggest the latter. And such a legacy of harm cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called sustainable development.

I urge the committee to refuse this application."

Maybe this time Hyde will realise you can't just pay lip service to being a good neighbour, and working inthe community.  They need to pay attention to what local people think, and respond to it.

The joyful British Summer

St Peters Ward councillors joined forces with Cannonbury today to man a stall outside Essex Road post office.  In spite of the very wet weather we had some good conversations with local people, especially about trees.  


We also spoke with one young man, who by his own admission used to deal drugs, and has now turned his life around to the point where he is working for a charity that takes gang members to Africa, where they help build schools for the local children, and get to see what real poverty (and mob rule) is like. He says the experience seriously changes the kids attitude to life, and they generally don't get involved in gangs afterwards.  I told him I thought it was really positive that he was putting so much back into society.  He said "well I took enough out, I thought I'd better put something back".


Pictured are Cllr Wally Burgess (Cannonbury Ward) and myself.  Alice Perry also joined us, too late for the photo.