Development of John Jones Site / Sketch House

Ali · September 2011

Is this a case of red tape that the Government are trying cut - there must be economic benefits that are delayed due to this delay

Thomas · September 2011

Agreed. The Planning Inspectorate ruled the application was fine - the council should just accept this and move on. Seems like a monumental waste of money dragging this through the courts at a time when they are cutting spending on important services. The council are also smothering a potentially important development for Finsbury Park (both economically and aesthetically) and failing to support a key local business. Is there not some way to put pressure on Islington to rethink their stance on this? - What is the position of the local councillor / MP for example?! perhaps need to get the local media on the side of John Jones - they would surely salivate at such a waste of public money. I wonder who at the council is actually responsible for the aggressive stance on this. The new planning guidance (although under consultation) is meant to introduce a 'presumption in favour of devleopment' - so maybe Islington should rethink their opposition anyway.

Arkady · September 2011

I'm not sure how I feel about 'presumption in favour of development', but this project is excellent and the judicial review is an outrageous waste of money. JRs should be saved for situations where there is a significant public outcry. Any hacks (krappyrubsnif) or people with any political pull (Mark Pack) out there? Arky

Donna · September 2011

I agree!

applehead · May 2012

Sendying all best wishes and good luck to John Jones on judicial review (if that is what it is called) tomorrow xxx

Kate Jones · May 2012

@applehead Thank you! We are all going along to the hearing today. Fingers firmly crossed!

drewpasmith · May 2012

Hi Kate, Big vote of support from me too. Hope it all goes well. Cheers, Drew

Arkady · May 2012

Bonne chance. I'll be ecstatic if this goes through.

Arkady · May 2012

Have they given you an indication of when you might hear the result? I’m told these things can take months.

Kate Jones · June 2012

No decision yet.... we were hoping we'd hear on the day but the judge announced he would let us know when he had reached a decision. Its now been two weeks and we're REALLY hoping he'll let us know next week. We have Plan A and Plan B - whichever way he decides, we're running out of space and turning away work so absolutely desperate to hear! I'll update asap.

Kate Jones · June 2012

Thank you so much to everyone for your comments and support - it really does mean a great deal and encourages us to keep trying to make improvements for the area!

Arkady · June 2012

Apparently the World's End have put in an application to demolish their new mansard roof and go up another two floors!

ActionVerb · June 2012

Wouldn't surprise me, as those new flats have been on the market for a while. They might be re-thinking the 1-bed flat format.

helen · June 2012

John Jones just won the appeal. tweet from Kate Jones: "Just leaving Royal Courts of Justice. We won!!!!! Our arts building can finally go ahead. More news soon!!!" Really good news that we'll get a gallery, some new developments AND keep a great business in the area. Well done all those at JJ who persevered

Mirandola · June 2012

Interesting. I wonder how long it will take.

Arkady · June 2012

I’m ecstatic about this. One in the eye for those who made a terrible, politicised decision and then insisted on pursuing it to the cost of tens of thousands of taxpayers’ money. Good luck to John Jones. I look forward to seeing this underway.

miss annie · June 2012

Hoorah! Well done all.

Kate Jones · June 2012

Hurrah! We are SO delighted!!We are hoping to start on site in September and are looking at 12-18 months construction for the John Jones building, then another 12 months for the remainder. We have meetings this week and next to confirm everything re next steps/ schedule etc. This is such brilliant news - we can't wait to kick start improvements to the area. I was at Kings X this morning and its so inspiring to see an area go through regeneration. Won't be long before Finsbury Park is following suit. I'm seeing Jez Bond from Park Theatre later so we can revisit our collaboration plans with them. such exciting times.Thanks again to everyone on this blog for the amazing support and kind words. its meant an awful lot - we felt very unloved by Islington ;-) (I think they will love us even less now that the judge has ruled they have to cover our developers legal costs which are close to £75k....)

Brodiej · June 2012

Congratulations on getting the go-ahead for this fantastic development. As you say, a further kick start to an area thats already showing signs of improvments. Can't wait to see it come to fruition. Islington council will just have to administer an extra 2.5 parking tickets every day for a year to cover the legal costs which im sure was in their plans anyway. If they allow a couple more Coldplay concerts or if Arsenal play some more home games on a Sunday then they'll be fine.

Arkady · June 2012

Kate, do you know where I can read the full JR online?

andy · June 2012

Brilliant. Well done, well done.

Ali · June 2012

What about those trees that will get cut down ?

Arkady · June 2012

I note that several of the threatened trees have already been felled due to rot. All the others will be replaced by more appropriate species. It reminds me of the pavement enlargement that happened on Wells Terrace. It was supposed to happen as part of the JJ scheme, at JJ's expense - both in terms of cost and land. Instead Islington paid for it, and extended the pavement into the road! More money to add to the black hole that Islington created with this nonsense.

Kate Jones · June 2012

@arkady Should be 1-2 weeks for the official letter to come out - I'll post a link as soon as I receive one. The judge also ruled that Islington will have to pay costs of about £100k including their own...

applehead · June 2012

Hooray hooray you get to stay, we live to paint another day.... Well done Kate, Matt, John, Lynn and all your team(s) the best team won. xx

Kate Jones · June 2012

@applehead ;-)))

Jonathan · June 2012

Yes fantastic news - great for all of us that you persevered so long! Look forward to seeing the diggers arrive ...

Donna · June 2012

Congrats! Are the st martins college students still coming?

Kate Jones · June 2012

@Donna Yes I hope so - talks are being revisited so fingers crossed they are still interested despite the delay. It would be fantastic, also really great for Park Theatre

Donna · June 2012

Awesome, such good news. Good luck.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Top Posters

Development of John Jones Site / Sketch House

Comments