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The 2007 leisure complex designs |
The Emirates strikes back with cineplex
Fears that stadium’s state-of-the-art leisure complex could be the ‘death of Nag’s Head’
A STATE-OF-THE-ART leisure complex next to Arsenal’s new Emirates stadium could be “the death of the Nag’s Head”, a senior councillor warned last night (Thursday).
Deputy Town Hall leader Terry Stacy spoke out after the club released bigger plans for a development around Queensland Road, Holloway, which is next to its Emirates stadium.
A number of compulsory purchase orders have already bought up premises in the former industrial area, which will be transformed into a huge cinema multiplex, five residential blocks up to 21 storeys-high, gym, restaurants, bars, shops and offices – with 300 parking spaces.
Cllr Stacy fears the development could damage regeneration work at the nearby Nag’s Head as people flock to the bright new Arsenal leisure complex.
The site has vastly increased in size since the club first applied for permission to develop the site in 2002, where a casino was touted as a possibility.
Cllr Stacy said: “A cinema at Arsenal will be the death of the Odeon and the Nag’s Head. If you put a cinema there it will kill off the Odeon and devastate the town centre because they are so close together.”
Islington has two mainstream cinemas, the Odeon in Holloway Road, and Vue in the N1 Centre, Angel, plus Screen on the Green in Upper Street.
A two-day public consultation will be held this week at the Emirates for residents and traders to speak to club planners.
Five thousand newsletters were sent out detailing the new proposals.
Controversy still reigns over where to put coaches on matchdays, which are banned from parking underneath the stadium because of security concerns and presently use Queensland Road.
The club has hired transport consultants to find a solution – which could include parking on the playground at Grafton primary school in Eburne Road.
There will be no community sports centre, which was initially proposed for the site to replace Highbury’s old JVC centre, and instead there will be a “health and fitness centre”.
Further, 86 fewer jobs will be created – 546 instead of 460.
There are 725 flats planned for the five tower blocks – up from 288 - and Cllr Stacy said the council would press the club to ensure that 50 per cent are available as social housing in-keeping with Islington policy and the London Plan.
Under the new scheme, the blocks have increased in height from the tallest being 14 storeys in 2002 to 21 floors today.
Keith Edelman, Arsenal’s managing director, said: “The revised proposals involve an increase in the number of residential units, and this will help the Council to meet the needs of those requiring affordable housing, and to satisfy its overall housing targets”
Islington north MP Jeremy Corbyn stressed the need for more long-term rented social housing, not just affordable for-sale homes.
Although planning permission for the earlier scheme, with fewer flats and the possibility of a casino, was granted in 2002, now the club has to go through the planning process again.
Club planners say the volume of buildings on the site has increased because the land is now more expensive and they need value for money.
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