Action for Children (formerly known as National Children’s Homes - NCH) has decided to sell up and move out of its offices in Loxford House, 85 Highbury Park.  As well as being a building of great historic and architectural merit, the scale of grounds and gardens are exceptional for this part of London.

The council produced a draft planing brief - their “vision” for future development of the site -  which Islington Green Party campaigners felt sacrificed too much space to housing.  At the Local Area Planning meeting in September, Cllr Katie Dawson was able to secure the following improvements to the brief and preserve this valuable resource for the community:

• a minimum of 0.4 hectares of green space to be retained and the exisiting gardens to be preserved in their entirety
• the option of retaining and refurbishing the exisiting 1920s and 1930s building to be seriously considered (rather than flattening them, as in the brief)
• Loxford House itself to be available for use by the local community

Katie has also written to the CEO of Action for Children to explore the idea of any development including a “legacy” reflecting the history of the site, such as a play area or youth club - which could draw on National Lottery funding.

The Green Party’s further concern is that the collape of the housing market could mean a delay of years before the site is sold and developed - bringing increased risks of neglect and vandalism. Katie is therefore pressing to have the buildings used as a community space in the short term and is working with local people with specialist skills to develop alternative uses for the site both before and after it is redeveloped.