Boris Johnson to approve controversial 700-apartment development
Boris Johnson is expected to approve plans to develop London’s largest brownfield site in Islington tomorrow, despite thousands of local residents campaigning against it.
The site – the former Royal Mail sorting office at Mount Pleasant, off Farringdon Road – has been highly controversial, with both Islington and Camden councils rejecting the plans, before the Mayor called in the decision in January.
One month later, Johnson slammed residents as “bourgeois nimbys”. Earlier this week he stressed the need for more homes in London at the Conservative party conference.
The development is for 700 mostly private flats in a 15 storey building. The Guardian reports the flats could cost as much as £2,800 a month to rent, with around 98 affordable homes ranging from £1,170 a month to £1,690.
A GLA report has recommended the development.
According to the Islington Gazette, the report says the buildings will “provide well considered variety to the streetscape”, and disagrees with both councils and English Heritage that it would cause “significant harm” to listed buildings in Calthorpe Street.
The GLA public hearing takes place at 10.30am tomorrow at City Hall.