24 new council homes to be built on Holloway’s Harvist Estate

New homes are planned for the Harvist Estate. Picture: Sam Gelder (Image: Archant)

Citizen Road, a two-way street onto the estate, will now become a single lane and the homes will be built on the vacated land, which includes a stretch that backs onto the railway tracks next to Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

The homes will be a mix of two-bed, three-bed and four-bed houses and flats.

While it won’t solve the housing crisis or do much to help reduce Islington’s 14,000-strong waiting list, a 100 per cent council housing project is still an achievement given the complete absence of government funding.

A group of campaigners living on the estate had campaigned against the plans, and 300 of the 500 people living there signing a petition opposing them. They argued making the road one lane would mean emergency services could not access the blocks and that they would lose their privacy.

But the planning committee for Islington Council approved them on Tuesday.

Cllr Sheila Chapman, a member of the committee, said afterwards: “Safe, secure housing is a basic human right and these additions to the Harvist Estate will be life changing for those who will get to call them home.” The scheme was originally to include 12 council homes with three at shared-ownership and nine for private sale, but a grant from Sadiq Khan helped to make it entirely council housing.

The Harvist Estate Action Group said it would be taking legal advice on the best way to fight plans going forward.

“We are devastated. We felt ignored and irrelevant. They [the planning committee] all seemed ingrained with the rhetoric of ‘must build affordable housing’ but it is at the expense of existing tenants.”