City of London gets an art attack from its tenants' campaign

Residents of Golden Lane estate have united locals in a campaign against the imposition of The Denizen, a monstrous Taylor Wimpey block which was recently granted planning permission by the City of London and is currently being marketed for off-plan sales to  Hong Kong  investors.

The City and Taylor Wimpey's woes increased this week with a public exhibition of art banners damning the shady deals done between public landowners and developers. Deals like the City's agreement not to stop the development however much sunlight is lost to its tenant's homes. Private commercial relationships between leading City councillors and the developers are highlighted in this Guardian article 

The campaign is reported all over social media - by our sister organisation OPEN GoldenLane, as well as CrowdJustice,  twitter,   ReclaimEC1  and Artists Against Overdevelopment ,as well as in The Art Newspaper. Writers of documentary fiction, the "Curse of the Denizen" have also been inspired by the campaign

The Denizen will replace the heritage modernist building, Bernard Morgan House, which was publicly owned and used for affordable accommodation, until the City sold it to Taylor Wimpey. The new development will loom over, and block sunlight from, local homes, the community school, the public park and the church

The Denizen will also damage the picturesque setting and feel of the 20th Century listed buildings and open spaces which make up the modernist post-war Golden Lane Estate, in Cripplegate, neighbouring the Barbican.

To add insult to injury the City planners not only agreed that there will be no affordable housing in the new development but that Taylor Wimpey will pay less than half the expected £10million Section 106 contribution towards the cost of providing "affordable" homes elsewhere..

Despite overwhelming community objections to the planning application, and solicitors letters on behalf of OPEN Golden Lane, the City has refused to agree to nulllify the planning permission. The local community have raised a financial war chest of donations, but more is urgently needed. You can read more about that here Please help these plucky residents in whatever way you can. 

You can read more about the City art attack in this link Spectres of Modernism