Islington Tribune News | Building delay

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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 13 June 2008

Building delay, so home is seized

A PROPERTY developer who hoped to create an eco-friendly home faces having it seized by the Town Hall.
Islington Council has stepped in after neighbours complained that the drawn-out development in Mercers Road, Holloway, has caused endless disruption and noise and ruined their quality of life.
The council’s executive committee agreed last week to issue a compulsory purchase order against owner James McDonnell, effectively giving the Town Hall the power to force him to sell his home to the council.
Mr McDonnell hoped to turn the five-storey building into a home for himself but says the project has been beset by delays.
A report presented to the council described the building as “uninhabitable, non-decent” and an “eyesore”. The report recommended seizing the property then selling it on with a condition that it must be brought up to standard – requiring an estimated £100,000 of work – within a set time.
Essex University psychology professor Andrew Samuels, who lives and works from a neighbouring property, said: “The lives of my family, my patients and myself have been utterly ruined by the incompetent and ill-judged approach taken to the development.”
The developer has already been ordered to pay compensation to Professor Samuels and neighbour Dennis Lanner for taking an “unreasonable” four-and-a-half years to complete a job that should have taken 12 months.
Mr Lanner, a solicitor, said: “[The project] has made my life a misery to the extent that I have had to be hospitalised and am on medication.
“We have had to endure constant noise, drilling, hammering, dust and fumes, which is ruining our lives.”

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