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Artist’s impression of how St David’s might look |
Council may lend a hand in saving Holloway church
Funds for ‘community hub’ could be raised through sale of land
A BISHOP and a councillor have come forward with offers of help after plans to refurbish a dilapidated Holloway church were thrown out by a planning committee.
An anticipated £3.5 million worth of funding for the refurbishment of Victorian St David’s Church was to come from a seven-storey block of luxury flats to be built on the site of a church hall. The scheme also involved the creation of a “community hub” in the church’s basement.
But the ambitious project was turned down after councillors said that not enough of the planned new homes were affordable.
This week Reverend Jonathan Rust, vicar at St David’s, said an influential delegation from the Diocese of London – including Stephen Oliver, the Bishop of Stepney – planned to meet with Islington South and Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry to push for acceptance of a modified form of the plans.
Revd Rust also said councillors who opposed the church’s original refurbishment plans had since come forward with offers of help, with Labour councillor Paul Convery suggesting that council-owned land adjacent to St David’s could be developed and the revenue donated to the church.
Revd Rust said: “Cllr Convery gave us an assurance that he and his colleagues support the proposed centre and want it to happen alongside as much affordable housing as can be achieved.
“It is impossible for the church to provide much more affordable housing than is already proposed, but Cllr Convery is hopeful that land owned by the council adjacent to the church might be added to the project.”
Cllr Convery, who heads the Labour-controlled west area planning committee that rejected the original plans, said: “The council owns land on either side of the church site. It seems to me that rather than the Church of England struggling along with what are actually fairly awkward plans, the council should do what it can in terms of providing money or land.
“The council-owned land adjacent to the church is surplus to its requirements. I’ve suggested the council could contribute a little bit of land to help with the project.”
Cllr Convery said donating the land “shouldn’t be enormously complicated and could be done in a matter of months”.
But he warned dignitaries from the Diocese against seeking to revive the original “flawed plan” to pay for the church’s project with money generated from luxury homes.
Revd Rust said the proposed purpose-built community centre, which would be constructed in the basement and wings of St David’s, was a much needed resource that would “make Holloway proud”.
The church has identified seven potential partners, including organisations which help prevent ex-prisoners from re-offending, a nursing service and Prospex, a group working with teenagers.
This week St David’s released an artist’s impression of what the refurbished church and planned community centre would look like.
Reverend Rust said he would be meeting Councillor Terry Stacy, the leader of Islington Council, to discuss ways forward for the church, which has lain disused for over a year. |
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