Blears forces skyscraper on Bunhill

9 November, 2008 at 9:36 am · Filed under Local history, Neighbourhood ·Tagged Bunhill, Finsbury, Old Street, planning, tower blocks

Controversial plans for a 39 storey tower block at Old Street have been approved by Secretary of State Hazel Blears despite being turned down by Islington Council.

As local Lib Dem councillor Ruth Polling says “the concerns of local people have been completely dismissed by the Labour minister, and now this 39-storey corporate identikit monstrosity will be built anyway.”

Here’s an artist’s impression of the block, looking up City Road from outside Wesley’s Chapel.

The 1950s building on the immediate right of the picture is Oliver House – built on the site of the jewellery shop where my Grandad lived and worked for most of his life. He moved out when he got married, but worked there until it was bombed in the war. There was a 2005 planning application to redevelop that site too: as an apart-hotel that’s a mere six storeys tall….

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