Boris Johnson is tomorrow expected to give the green light to a redevelopment of the Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant site in Clerkenwell despite bitter local opposition.
Greater London Authority officials have recommended approval for the scheme, which will see 681 apartments built in blocks of up to 15 storeys on the old sorting office site.
But opponents likened the development to a “fortress” and want the decision deferred until a rival scheme can be considered.
The Mayor “called in” the application in January after Royal Mail Group complained that the two councils involved, Camden and Islington, were dragging their heels. The councils then rejected the application but Mr Johnson dismissed local critics of the plan as “bourgeois nimbys”.
The councils are concerned too few of the homes in the Royal Mail scheme will be designated affordable. The alternative Mount Pleasant Circus is based around brick-built terraces and a garden Circus. In a survey of more than 250 residents, 99 per cent said they preferred it to the Royal Mail designs.
But the GLA report on the RMG scheme concludes that “the masterplanning principles are well-considered, the design and appearance is of a high quality, with strategic views and the designated and non-designated heritage assets, and their significance remaining unharmed”.
