Islington Council has given itself permission to turn a community centre into offices, after its own staff had already been using the building as an office without planning permission.
The council’s Planning Committee approved the change of use for the Tompion Community Centre on Percival Street at a meeting on Thursday 12 November, despite objections from local residents. The council submitted the application itself, as part of its estate rationalisation programme. Its parking team is expected to move into the single-storey building, and future use of the site is restricted to Use Class E(g)(i) offices.
According to the planning report, the building was briefly used as an office from 2021/22 to November 2024, when it was vacated. It has been empty since, but its lawful use remains as a community space (Use Class F1(e)).
At the meeting, Councillor Sophia Brown asked officers to confirm the council’s Estate Services team had used the building as offices until 2024, while it was still designated for community use. A planning officer confirmed it had. “That’s correct,” the officer said. “There was a use as an office that was reported to ourselves, and we raised it with our enforcement team. We communicated with the corporate landlord, who stopped the use when they found out that it was an unauthorised use.”
The corporate landlord is part of the council. The application was presented by a representative of the council’s New Homes and Corporate Landlord team.
Councillor Sheridan Kates, who dissented, said the application was an attempt to retrospectively validate that use. “It sounds from the evidence from the planning team that it’s de facto been used as an office since 2021,” she said. “They only stopped in 2024 because of this planning enforcement case, and now we’re coming in to validate that.”
She also argued that the evidence the centre was not needed was not overwhelming, and that the community had not been properly consulted. She proposed deferring the decision for a year, to allow the community to show it needed the space and to gather more data.
Other concerns were raised about how demand had been assessed. One councillor asked how need could be judged when the centre had been inaccessible since 2019. Officers said that while the loss of a community facility is a consideration, the council’s Strategic Asset Management Plan aims to consolidate community spaces into fewer, higher-quality hubs. The report highlighted there are seven other community facilities within a 5 to 15-minute walk of the Tompion Community Centre. Council community centres and spaces across the borough are on average at 70% capacity, leaving 30% spare, which officers considered enough to absorb any unmet local demand. Detailed evidence for each centre was not provided at the meeting.
Councillor Talia Hussain, who spoke in objection on behalf of residents, said nearly 40 residents had objected to the proposal. She also raised concerns about losing the building as a potential polling station, and suggested a trial period so the community could show it would use it.
In response, the council’s New Homes and Corporate Landlord team, which made the application, said it understood that people wanted to use the hall, but there were enough alternative facilities available and it had told residents this. It confirmed that local residents’ associations could use nearby council-managed community centres for free, but the Tompion Community Centre, being leased, would require payment to cover costs.
Committee members who supported the application cited the council’s estate rationalisation strategy and the availability of other community spaces.
The committee was recommended to attach conditions to the approval. Before the offices are first occupied, details must be submitted and approved for: cycle parking, including its layout, design and appearance, with no fewer than four spaces, two of them accessible; refuse storage, including its layout, design and appearance; and a delivery and servicing plan, setting out the location, times and frequency of vehicles. The development must then be run strictly in line with these approved details.
The decision is the latest in a series of council rows in the capital. Wandsworth Council has been selling off empty family council houses instead of re-letting them, and Richmond Council this week refused bus-priority measures for the SL7 and 285 routes.
