| |
Flats will add sparkle
• THOSE who believe in a free-market society should applaud the fact that developer Robin Hodges is able to live in a two-storey, 5,000sq ft penthouse in Barnsbury Square worth £5 million, which benefits from an amazing glass-bottomed swimming pool (Fury as glass ‘monstrosity’ finally gets rubber stamp, February 1).
Owning Islington’s most stunning and most valuable flat is a justified reward for the risk Robin and Sue Hodges undertook more than 15 years ago in a depressed property market.
They converted the long-derelict Mica House factory into luxury flats, spearheading the rejuvenation of Barnsbury.
Economic liberals should celebrate that Mr Hodges can now – after seven years battling his hypocritical, Nimby neighbours – demolish his former joinery and build 10 large shell apartments selling for more than £1 million each.
If Islington’s lefty cabal of Lib Dem-Labour councillors had their way, Mr Hodges would have had to build a larger number of smaller flats – half of which would have been forfeited to affordable housing, a most unfair tax which stymies much-needed redevelopment.
The 10 upmarket families that Hodges House will attract will be a boost to Islington, which is already one of the most deprived boroughs in England and does not need further problems and the drain on resources which affordable housing brings.
As for the glass architecture supposedly destroying the character of the “historic” square, the more enlightened modernist eye sees the striking, glass-fronted Hodges House, designed by award-winning architects, including Robert Ian Barnes, as the contemporary sparkling jewel juxtaposing Mountfort House in the centre of this somewhat tired Georgian estate.
The hypocritical neighbours don’t know what’s best for themselves. Their £1 million homes would fall in value if affordable homes had to be included in the mix.
Neighbours will one day realise they are fortunate that successful businessman Mr Hodges can afford the £1,000-an-hour fees commanded by the country’s most expensive planning experts, Roger Hepher and David Cooper, the team behind the successful Arsenal projects, to finally secure justice from an independent planning inspector after brushing away the obstacles thrown in the development’s path by the Nimby locals and near-socialist Islington Council.
Let’s hope Islington is foolhardy enough to appeal the inspector’s decision in the High Court. The council’s inevitable defeat will be a victory for those in Islington who believe in free-market values, and will hopefully also herald a forced retreat for the lefties who have ruled Islington for far too long.
Islington needs more determined visionaries like Mr Hodges.
P JOHNSON
N1
Address supplied
|
 |
|
| |
| Your Comments : |
| |
| |
| |
