London Mayor Ken Livingstone has given his qualified blessing to Arsenal’s plans for a new stadium and related development in the Ashburton Grove area of north London.
Following the mayor’s initial planning meeting with Islington council, he concluded that he supports the application in principle because it offers “significant regenerative benefits.”
However, the mayor agreed with protestors that there was a need for further consideration on issues such as the proportion of affordable housing, the funding of public transport improvements and improvements to the waste transfer system.
The Islington Stadium Communities Alliance (ISCA), which is campaigning against the scheme, is calling for a public inquiry. The group has already presented eight papers detailing objections to the £250m scheme to Islington council.
The group says that, in order for Arsenal to CPO the businesses situated within the 20ha (50-acre) scheme, the club will need to prove that it is benefiting the area.
It claims that more than sixty businesses based on the Ashburton Grove industrial estate, zoned in the council’s UDP as an industrial area, will be forced to move, many of whom will find it impossible to find alternative locations.
Robert Scott, spokesman for ISCA said: “Arsenal is putting together this glossy package to build a stadium it could not otherwise fund or get planning permission for.”
But Arsenal’s surveyor, Anthony Green & Spencer, is adamant that CPO powers will be granted with planning permission. Anthony Spencer said: “This is not just a stadium development. This is a major regeneration project in an area well in need of a facelift. The only scheme in recent years to come near to it in scale is Canary Wharf.”
EGi News 12/10/01
