So does Islington's Planning Policy actually apply to Islington?

The RCS Site and Islington's Planning Policy: 

The Finsbury Local Plan is the Area Action Plan that Islington prepared in 2013 based on studies of the area. As it says boldly on the cover, it forms part of Islington's Local Plan. This plan proactively seeks to identify areas that could be developed in Islington and helpfully for developers, sets out the planning constraints and policy for each site.

The Richard Cloudesley School Site is specifically identified in the plan (Site BC34), so you can check what Islington planning policy is for this site and judge for yourself how carefully the policy is being followed in the CoLPAI development.  Here is an extract from the plan that deals specifically with the site:

The plan notes that there are residential buildings neighbouring the site and that proposals must be "sensitively designed". Those of us who are losing 48% of the daylight in our kitchens wonder how sensitive the design is.

It notes the locally listed Board School building to the North and the Golden Lane Estate to the South as well as St Luke's Conservation Area. Do the CoLPAI proposals "conserve and enhance" these assets? Or simply tower over them?

Finally it points out, quite correctly that the site falls into "an area of deficiency in access to nature" and that Public open space should be provided in any proposal. Not only does the scheme have absolutely no public open space; it doesn't even contain open space for the new residents and to add insult to injury it makes a land grab for existing public open space from the existing perimeter of the Golden Lane Estate.

How high?

The Finsbury Local Plan also looks at appropriate height for development. Here is a map showing the Finsbury Area. The yellow splodges show areas where tall buildings might be appropriate:

The RCS site is actually shaded in green "Area with a platform building height of around 6 storeys". Why is this important? The Plan recognises that this is "an area where the predominant building height rarely exceeds six storeys, and which is an important part of its "open townscape" character.

A few years ago a proposal was made to add two floors to the top of 108-114 Golden Lane (opposite the RCS site). Because of this policy only one floor was permitted; and that had to be set back from the façade.

"Buildings of 30 metres in height or more may be appropriate within the areas indicated on Figure 17...Elsewhere, building heights must respond to the local context". 

The Plan is perfectly clear and local people who may have felt that it offered protection against over-development will be astonished that it is a scheme that is so strongly backed by Islington Council that is the first to flout the policy.

Download the Finsbury Local Plan here.

Comment on the proposed development here and here.

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