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Khan: Holloway Prison site must have affordable housing
Sadiq Khan has urged the government to give priority to affordable housing on the site of the former Holloway Prison.
The site in the London borough of Islington, formerly a women’s prison, is capable of delivering about 1,000 homes and is being marketed for sale by the Ministry of Justice. It has been subject to significant local concern; feminist action group Sisters Uncut occupied the building in May to demand that the site be used for affordable housing and domestic violence support services.
The mayor of London has expressed concern that the government is offering the site to purchasers without restrictions or restraint, and has said he fears it could end up being folded into a developer’s ‘land bank’.
Mr Khan has written to justice secretary David Lidington, offering him housing and land experts to help him to secure the best deal on the site.
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The mayor said in a statement: “Holloway Prison is a major site capable of delivering a large number of new and affordable homes for Londoners. It’s absolutely crucial we do not run the risk of this prized asset being ‘land banked’ and left unused for decades.
“London desperately needs new and affordable homes right now. I am offering to work with the government – with help from my experienced Homes for Londoners team – to ensure this site not only achieves good value to be reinvested in the prison service, but also that it is built on quickly and delivers hundreds of new and genuinely affordable homes.”
A consultation launched by Islington Council in August this year made clear that it expected any development on the site to include 50% affordable housing, 70% of which should be social rent.
As the land is publicly owned, the mayor’s planning guidance would allow it to be fast-tracked through the planning process if a developer promised to provide 50% affordable.
