Labour councillors on the Council’s centralised planning committee appear to have an incomplete understanding of the benefit to the community provided by Islington’s Union Chapel (“Chapel … ‘not Downton Abbey‘”, Tribune, 16 Nov 12).
Highbury campaigner, Emma Dixon said “The Chapel is a magnificent building. It is also a place of worship and an award-winning music venue. But it is more than that. The Margins Project, based in the Union Chapel, provides a range of vital support services to people facing homelessness, crisis and isolation in our community and beyond. As local people will know, every Sunday morning, homeless and destitute people queue up at the back door of the Chapel, waiting for the excellent Sunday lunch cooked there by volunteers from the Project. This is adjacent to the proposed new flats.”
“There is a very real concern that the developers will see the presence of these vulnerable and marginalised people literally on the doorstep of these expensive new flats as incompatible with their commercial interests. That in turn could lead to the essential services provided by the Margins Project being put under threat.”
“We call on councillors to safeguard the interests of these most needy members of our local community, and to put people before profit.”
