Islington Gazette.
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ISLINGTON North MP Jeremy Corbyn is demanding Arsenal include a new sports centre in their plans for a patch of land alongside the club's new Emirates Stadium.
When Ashburton Grove was first earmarked as the site for the new stadium, Islington was promised a new indoor sports centre like the hugely-popular former JVC centre at the old Highbury stadium.
That plan was later ditched in favour of new homes. Mr Corbyn said this week: "Arsenal are a very successful club who are much loved in this borough. They should play fair with the community and play their part in Islington life." Now Arsenal have acquired the land they wanted in Queensland Road, Mr Corbyn has written to director Ken Friar calling on the club to revise its plans. Mr Corbyn said: "I have told Ken Friar very strongly that the planning application for Queensland Road must include a publicly accessible sports area with capacity to have two or three games going on at the same time, just like the old sports centre at Highbury.
"That place was Arsenal in every way, from the coaches and the kits to where it was located. And frankly, for most of the kids in the area, going to the indoor centre was the closest they ever got to Arsenal because the ticket prices are so high. "I hope Arsenal will reconsider because there are thousands of youngsters locally who would benefit from having it rebuilt at the Emirates." A planning application for the Queensland Road site is likely to be submitted next month, and Mr Corbyn says he still has the documents showing a new indoor centre was one of the stadium's "selling points" to the community. "To encourage public support for the new stadium we were promised a health centre, a learning zone and a sports centre," he said. "We got the learning zone, which is good, the health centre is a matter for Arsenal and the Primary Care Trust, but the sports centre was ditched in favour of housing. "Arsenal did pay some money to the council which has been used to upgrade places like Rosemary Gardens, off City Road, but the reality is that there is less sports centre space in the borough than there was before the Emirates stadium.
A spokesman for Arsenal said: "As part of the Emirates Stadium development, Arsenal has provided £1.8million to Islington Council for investment in local sports facilities and this funding is now in the hands of the council. "With regards to the Queensland Road site, we are currently in discussions with Islington Council about a revised planning application which will consist of affordable and market housing and various commercial uses including, leisure space, bars, restaurants, retail and office use. "As the stadium scheme was refined, the club agreed with the council that the local community would gain more from affordable housing. "It is also important to note that the sports centre at Highbury was built for the sole use of the football club, into which we were always pleased to welcome various groups of users from the community when the centre was not in use for club purposes."
Councillor Terry Stacy, Islington's deputy council leader, said: "Arsenal is providing 17 hours of sports provision in Holloway School and is committed to investing a further £1.8million in sports and leisure in Islington - so the borough's not losing out. "Arsenal's revised plan for Queensland Road includes a proposal for 800 homes - half of these are expected to be affordable.