Residents face loss of communal green space to council development plans

Peregrine House is a 27-storey council tower block that has been providing a home to people in Islington since the 1960s. Attached to the block is a hectare of open land, containing a large sports pitch and a green space for residents to meet, play and exercise. Only now, under pressure to build more and build faster, Islington Council is eyeing up that plot as a site for potential new development.

It is easy to see why. Affordable housebuilding has stalled while the number of people on social housing waiting lists has climbed, reaching more than 16,500 households in Islington in 2024/25. Peregrine House has the added benefit of being land the council already owns. According to the council, the new proposals would see 170 new houses built on the plot, half of which (under current plans) are intended to be affordable.

But while CPRE London understands the urgent need for affordable housing, and family housing in particular, eating into the land at Peregrine House will exacerbate a huge problem that we see across much of Inner London: high-density housing accompanied by low levels of green space. (Read more here: New map shows park space per person in London.) The tower block is already in an area of the city where the amount of Public Open Space per person is at its lowest, at less than 0.44sqm per person. If the proposals go ahead and a large chunk of this land gets developed, it will mean more residents and less green space.

Don Bradby, of Friends of Peregrine Park: “Peregrine park is one of the most significant green spaces in south Islington, contains a number of unique mature trees, and also boasts one of the largest accessible sports pitches in the whole of Islington.

In the 1960s it was incorporated into the City road housing estate, with the explicit understanding that it would remain for the use of the residents of the tower blocks for as long as the estate existed. Now Islington council wants to build over Peregrine park, and sell part of it to a developer.

Residents group “Friends of Peregrine Park” is asking Islington council to consider the impact that this development would have on the community, and to meet with us to discuss our concerns.”

Friends of Peregrine Park say they are yet to hear back on a number of concerns raised about the proposals and have requested for a proper consultation. The group is currently trying to organise a petition to be signed by local residents and presented to the council.

At CPRE London, we have been saying the housing crisis is principally one of affordability, not simply of supply. Read more about our action plan for the housing crisis here: Priority actions for making homes affordable in the capital.