London borough decides against building homes on football pitches after legal threat

Islington Council has withdrawn a proposal to remove football pitches from ground level to the roof of new homes following a threat of legal action.

It changed course in the face of a judicial review claim brought by local campaign group EC1 Voices, said Alex Shattock, of Landmark Chambers, who acted for the group.

Mr Shattock said the judicial review would have been of the council’s decision to appropriate land for planning purposes while unlawfully withholding a Rights of Light report from the public, even though this fell to be disclosed under transparency rules n s.100B of the Local Government Act 1972, read with paragraphs 9-10 of Schedule 12A.

Council leader Una O’Hallloran said Islington now intended to build the scheme’s 200 homes elsewhere.

She said: “We know that our plans to build on the football pitches were a controversial part of this project, and I want to be clear that these will now be protected from this development and improved for more people to use.

“Our commitment to building new genuinely affordable social housing remains undimmed, and we will look at alternative sites already in the early stages of development across the borough to deliver the new homes so many families need.”

Mark Smulian