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Square campaigners Suzie Graves, Sharon Maguire and Anand Tucker |
Film-makers in battle to keep newcomers out of parking spots
Campaigners claim dropping car-free zone plan for square has created ‘free-for-all’
TWO of Britain’s leading film-makers have joined a campaign to stop new residents parking in one of Holloway’s ornate but highly congested squares.
Sharon Maguire, who directed Bridget Jones’s Diary, and her partner Anand Tucker, director of The Pearl Earing, accuse Islington Council of reneging on a plan to make a £30million Arundel Square development mainly car free.
The scheme contains 68 underground car parking spaces but at rents of a staggering £20,000 to £30,000 a year few new residents can afford them.
Instead, the council is issuing car parking permits to the newcomers, creating a “free-for-all” in the square and leaving many of long-term residents struggling to find spaces.
Prices for many of the 144 houses and apartments, built on a former bus depot, range from £285,000 for a studio flat to £1.5million for a three-bed penthouse. There are also 40 affordable homes.
According to campaigners, part of the original plan was that new residents could join a car club and hire a vehicle when necessary.
Suzie Graves, from Arundel Square Tenants’ and Residents’ Association, wrote to the council more than a month ago asking it to sort out the parking problem, and has so far received no response.
She said: “This failure to maintain a car-free zone for new residents means there is a sudden increased pressure on the very limited amount of available space on Arundel Square and adjoining roads.”
Ms Maguire, who lives in the square, said: “We feel hoodwinked and let down by the council and the developer. The parking issue is a betrayal of our trust.”
Caledonian ward Labour councillor Paul Convery said: “This seems to be a very serious problem and the council bears full responsibility. The original plans were clear – there should be no on-street parking – but current agreements have omitted to mention this.
“The council has to remedy this mistake or we are plainly in Ombudsman territory.”
Caroline Russell, from Islington Living Streets Campaign, has also written to the council. “We certainly support all the measures Islington is taking to reduce car use, and car-free development is an obvious way forward,” she said. “Particularly as Islington has densely parked streets – second only to Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea – despite only 42 per cent of residents having access to a car or van.”
A council spokesman said that restricting new residents from applying for parking permits was not a planning condition for Arundel Square.
“Rather, the consent said the developer should offer residents a year’s free car club membership and on-site parking,” he added. “The provision of both was thought sufficient, given the low level of car ownership in the borough.
“Now, local residents have asked that the developers insert a no- parking permits clause into the section 106 agreement, so we’re putting this to them. We are as keen to see a resolution to this issue. |
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