Green light for new Highbury Roundhouse and new council housing

Plans to build a new Highbury Roundhouse community centre and badly-needed new council housing for Islington residents have taken a major step forward.

Last night (Thurs) Islington Council agreed to grant a 99-year lease on land in Ronalds Road to the Highbury Roundhouse Association (HRA).  This means the HRA can go ahead with plans to build a new community centre on the land.

The new community centre will be run by the HRA and provide services for the Highbury community, from children to older people.  It is due to be completed by spring 2018 and will replace the much-loved “bottleworks” building, which previously stood on the site.

This work will also enable Islington Council to build much-needed new council homes for people in Highbury.  After the new community centre is open, services currently run by the HRA at Sotheby Mews will move to the new centre.

Sotheby Mews and existing buildings at Ronalds Road will then be redeveloped to provide new council homes, and also some homes for private sale to help pay for the council’s £1 million contribution towards costs of building the new community centre. There will be full consultation on the housing proposals.

Cllr Diarmaid Ward, Islington Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: “We’re very pleased to be working with Highbury Roundhouse on this exciting project.

“This will bring a new community centre to Highbury and also enable the council to build badly-needed new council homes.

“We will work very closely with the Roundhouse, users of the existing facilities at Ronalds Road and Sotheby Mews, and local residents to take this forward.”

Last night’s decision to grant a lease to HRA was taken at the council’s meeting of the Executive. For the full Executive report please see www.islington.gov.uk/executive