The Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood Forum has submitted what, if successful, will be Britain’s largest Community Right to Build Order, as the group intends to provide 40 more affordable homes than the Royal Mail scheme that has already been granted permission.
Residents near the Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant sorting office site in Clerkenwell upset by plans for almost 700 mostly luxury homes in their neighbourhood, have requested approval for a rival design, submitting initial designs for 125 homes – up to half of which could be affordable – opposing the Royal Mail’s ‘brutal, fortress-like proposals and their tokenist attitude to public participation’.
Create Streets writes:
The community has been working on an alternative proposal for the sorting office since 2014. This seems the right time not just to pay tribute to the community but also to thank the wide range of professionals who have provided their time and expertise either pro bono or at very reduced rates: Maddox Associates, Francis Terry & Associates, calford seaden, Urban Engineering Studio, Alexandra Steed Urban (alongside many others – and us !)
Community-led from the start, with an elephantine amount of consultation and co-design, this has resulted in an urban design of characterful mansion blocks with a strong sense of place, mixed use and human scale – although higher density and higher value than RMG’s preferred scheme. In all local polls and workshops it has received between 95 and 99% local support.
The deadline is May 26.
For more information, visit the Create Streets website
Read more in The Guardian
