Finsbury Park campaigners fear hotelier is trying to ‘game the system’ with demolition plans

Finsbury Park residents and a heritage campaign group fear a local hotelier is attempting to “game” the planning system after they submitted plans to demolish four Victorian buildings just before a decision is made on turning the area into a conservation zone.

Applications to bulldoze two neighbouring three-star hotels, the Queens and the Pembury, on Seven Sisters Road, and two more buildings around the corner on Queen’s Drive, were lodged in early January.

A Town Hall proposal to create a new conservation zone, which would require developments within it to “preserve or enhance the character or appearance of the area”, is out for consultation until the end of the month.

Nick Perry, chair of heritage group the Hackney Society, said: “It’s hard to see the proposed demolition as anything other than an attempt by developers to cynically game the planning system ahead of ratification of a new conservation area.”

He added: “Conservation area status doesn’t prevent demolition – but it does require a little more thought, forward planning and justification before consent is given and should be no barrier to any competent and considerate developer.”

Hugh White, who heads up local campaign Wilberforce Road Guardians, said: “One of the buildings, on Queen’s Drive, had been in bad shape for years – two years ago they put hoardings around it. They had been in no rush to demolish.”

White said there are “very few original houses” from the 1860s left, adding “Three of the buildings represent almost half of the remaining houses. We have an image of what they would have been like in Victorian times.”

The Guardians fear the site will remain vacant for many years before being turned into residential blocks.

White said: “If you look at the land, it probably costs a substantial amount of money. They could build a high building – that’s my speculation.”

He claims that “most people are in favour of the conservation area and want to see it intact” adding: “Nobody is particularly keen on watching developers demolishing buildings.”

The new conservation area is expected to be approved, and would stretch from south of Finsbury Park station to the border with Islington on Mountgrove Road.

It is intended to offer more protection to the “high quality late Victorian suburb”.

Perry pointed to the Lea Bridge Conservation Area, between Hackney and Waltham Forest, which was “created urgently to prevent wholesale demolition in 2005”.

In 2011, the Regents Canal Conservation Area was extended to save Hoxton’s Wenlock Arms from the bulldozers.

Perry said: “We know the council can do the right thing when it puts its mind to it.”

The owner of the hotels could not be reached for comment, but the manager of the Pembury Hotel, Masha Jones, told the Citizen: “There is nothing to be concerned about for now. We are exploring different plans but we can not comment yet, because [demolition] was one of the options we were exploring.

“We haven’t made a decision as to whether we will go down that route or not.”