AT chats to Dinah Casson about holding Islington Council to account and battling to protect a fragile corner of Shoreditch from Morris+Co’s controversial Castle & Fitzroy scheme.

What’s keeping you busy?
I am still thinking and writing about museums. I am spending time as a trustee of Towner Eastbourne, on a huge new arts venue on the South Downs. I am also spending too much time worrying about Lion Portfolio’s planning application for the Castle & Fitzroy office development in my part of Shoreditch, and the prospect of it being built.

What’s so special about this site?
This is a curious, fragile corner of Shoreditch. The border between Hackney and Islington runs along the northern edge of the site. The surrounding streets are a mix of 19th century residential, warehouses and warehouse conversions providing start-up work spaces and flats serviced by surviving corner and coffee shops. It’s remarkably quiet and, because of a low rise building currently on the site, there is a lot of light. That’s why many of us are there. And others are there because they always have been. And that is why there is sheltered housing here. The point is that although it appears to be a backwater of no great architectural merit, in fact it is a warm haven cherished by those who live there.

What’s your experience of community engagement with the planning process and how could it be improved?
It could be great. It is often a nightmare. Unfortunately it needs cohesion and cash and it needs a driver. By definition most people involved are working, so although this affects their lives, they have to fit it in between other things including children. The group has to be quick off the mark and examine all parts of the submission forensically, challenging anything covered in whitewash and greenwash. It has to burrow down and identify the key issues as quickly as possible. They need to agree to speak as one voice. They need to be constructive as well as negative.

How would you counter the argument that local objections to this application are a classic case of Not In My Back Yard?
It is clear that the low-rise building that’s currently on the site is a candidate for an upgrade. We have always accepted that change will come. We would have cooperated closely with any developer keen to make something for the area which would not destroy the qualities I have identified. Instead we have been presented with a massive fait accompli. Negotiations have been with the council and the community was dismissed. Even the sheltered housing group were ignored and even now have never been visited. Our objections are not on the principle, but on the multiple breaches of Islington policies on building height, carbon release and the unnecessary stealing of light . This is why we are upset.

What’s your preferred way forward for this particular site?
We think the council, having referred the scheme three times, should have the courage to say “This is still not good enough. You have reduced the bulk by a cursory 1.7%, you have ignored the community and our policies. Go away and resubmit a scheme which represents a consensus view, is supported by the community, which doesn’t cut out all their light, which protects the vulnerable and enhances the environment. That is not difficult. You just have to listen to what is being said to you.”