Following the meeting last autumn, Islington Council have now revised their proposals for redeveloping the estate, which they presented to tenants and residents during a drop-in consultation held at the Mildmay Club at the beginning of May. As a follow-up to this, the Tenants and Residents Association organised a meeting for people living on both Besant Court and Hathersage Court to come together and discuss what they thought to present a unified response to the councils’ proposals.
First, what is proposed? The sunken playground was out of commission for a long time due to an apparent threat from the roots of the trees towards the wall of the football pitch. This resulted in the entire playground being shut, and part of the car park fenced off. Over the last year, the TRA has got the playground re-opened (although the football pitch is still out of bounds), and the fences have been pushed back by local people and the space being used. The council is now proposing that they build new developments in the playground/football pitch and car park areas – and also that they demolish little Besant and replace that with several new blocks.
Architect’s model of Hathersage and Besant Court Estate following new build developments.
The attached photograph shows a model of how the proposed new buildings would fit into the estate grounds. The tallest new buildings (all in blue) are 7 storeys high – the same height as Hathersage Court, and substantially taller than little Besant. The shortest are 3 or 4 storeys. The plan also calls for the Mildmay Road exit to be reopened – thus allowing for the estate to be crossed from one side to the other.
The meeting was held in the Mildmay Club on Thursday, 26th May and was extremely well attended by approximately thirty residents of both Besant and Hathersage Courts. There was unanimous agreement on several points:
- The residents all objected to the councils proposals in their present format. A list of perceived problems was constructed.
- The residents agreed that the TRA should represent residents of both Hathersage and Besant Courts.
- The Committee were requested to write to Islington Council objecting to the development in its current form and requesting improved communication with and involvement of residents.
- Residents were encouraged to individually contact the council and give feedback on the proposals by the deadline of Friday, 24th June.