Now the Tories take Boris to task over RM homes development

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Now the Tories take Boris to task over Royal Mail homes development

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Andrew Boff: 'If the current scheme for Mount Pleasant is the way forward then I’ll probably move to Manchester. It’s just not good enough'


LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson is now coming under pressure from senior figures in his own party to change his stance over the Royal Mail’s homes development in Mount Pleasant.

In an outspoken interview with the Tribune, Andrew Boff, leader of the Conservative group on the London Assembly, warns Mr Johnson not to be “seduced” by planners and developers who want to build 681 mainly luxury flats on the sorting office site in Clerkenwell.

Mr Boff spoke out the week after Mr Johnson, talking to an audience of 2,000, dramatically accus­ed the Tribune of “denouncing” him over the issue.

It is believed Mr Johnson is tempted to approve Royal Mail plans for homes on the site of one of the world’s biggest sorting offices despite a huge wave of criticism.

Islington and Camden councils have objected that the development contains only 12 per cent affordable housing.

Mr Boff, who has studied the Royal Mail’s plans, said dismissively: “If the current scheme for Mount Pleasant is the way forward then I’ll probably move to Manchester. It’s just not good enough.”

The development, described as “fortress style”, will contain blocks up to 15 storeys high with narrow pathways creating what critics say is a “canyon” effect.

Mr Boff added: “I can’t see a thing I like about it. It lacks imagination.

“All you have to do is go out on the street and stop a few Londoners and ask them what kind of house they want to live in? Would they say they’d like to live on the top floor of a tower block? No, actually where they want to live is in a house with perhaps a garden and a front door that opens out on the street.

“That’s precisely what people are not being given with this scheme.”

Mr Boff is recommending an alternative “humane” scheme by Create Streets, which maintains it can build seven per cent more dwellings but in a mainly low-level, traditional style.

“Their scheme makes perfect sense,” Mr Boff said. “Isn’t it better to build a development that is attractive and where people want to live? That way you can charge high prices for properties which would pay for more affordable homes.”

Mr Boff called on Mr Johnson to listen to the people and not just the planners who want a high-rise scheme.

“I have let the Mayor know my views and his reaction at the time was that he wasn’t persuaded,” he said. “But we carry on. I want to persuade him that we can do better. This development if it is done properly could be part of his good legacy.”

Deputy chairman of Islington Conservatives Dr Mark Lim called for a comprise between what Royal Mail wants and what the local residents are seeking. “I think 20 per cent rather than 12 per cent affordable would be reasonable,” he added. “But that would not necessarily mean that they all need to be socially rented properties. Few professionals can afford property in the area as it is, with the cheapest one-bedroom flat in Clerkenwell going at £320,000.”