Islington's Executive agreed on 22 October to sell 14 council properties, including Holly Hall and the Drovers centre. The full list, and the 27 October call-in date.

Updated 23 October: the Executive agreed every recommendation on Thursday 22 October, so all 14 properties are now declared surplus and recommended for sale, according to the printed decisions. Councillors can call the decision in until 27 October; if nobody does, it takes effect on 28 October, the decision record says. No property was taken off the list.

Islington Council plans to sell 14 buildings and plots of land it says it no longer needs. The list includes Holly Hall on Blythwood Road, the former Drovers day centre on North Road and the Victorian Laycock building on Laycock Street.

The council’s Executive will be asked to declare them surplus on Thursday 22 October. The report to the meeting was published this week.

Two of the buildings are still partly in use. One houses a GP surgery. The other is home to Streets Kitchen, which the council says it will help find somewhere else to go.

The 14 properties

The report lists every site, with what the council plans to do with it. Thirteen are in Islington. One, a row of garages, is in Barnet.

Property What it is Plan
Laycock Building, Laycock Street, N1 Victorian former school (listed as the 2nd floor), previously council training rooms and offices; part leased to the NHS and a regional adoption agency Sell freehold
52D Drayton Park, N5 Empty former area housing office Long lease to a “special purchaser”, or sell freehold
Holly Hall, 1A Blythwood Road, N4 Empty, dilapidated building and grounds with past community uses Sell freehold
173 Highbury Quadrant, N5 Four-storey end-of-terrace house and land Sell freehold
Soley Mews, Lloyd Baker Street, WC1 Land behind flats giving access to garages and gardens Sell freehold
Pineridge Court, 80 Bells Hill, Barnet Garages behind a block of flats Sell freehold
166 Gillespie Road, N5 0.02 acres used as garden by the house next door Sell freehold
Former Clerkenwell Fire Station, Rosebery Avenue, EC1 Part of the forecourt, over old public toilets Sell freehold
19 Turle Road, N4 Five-bedroom Victorian semi Sell freehold
Sotheby Mews, Sotheby Road, N5 Empty day centre Long lease to the NHS for a new medical centre
Drovers Day Centre, 19 North Road, N7 Empty former day centre, described as dilapidated Sell freehold
71 Ronalds Road, N5 Empty home Sell freehold
7 Newington Barrow Way, N7 Four-storey office block with a GP surgery on the first floor Sell freehold
48 Seven Sisters Road, N7 Three-storey shop unit; Streets Kitchen uses the ground floor Sell freehold

Source: Islington Council, Executive report I033879, Table 1.

The report does not say what any of them are worth. The estimated values sit in an appendix that is closed to the public because it is commercially sensitive.

Why the council is selling

The council’s asset plan starts from a presumption that it keeps what it owns. It allows sales where they cut costs or risk, or raise money.

The report says every site on the list has been checked for other uses first:

  • temporary accommodation for homeless households
  • new council homes the council could build itself
  • renting it out for an income
  • community or social use

None was judged workable. For several, the report says plainly that building homes on the site “is not viable”. At 173 Highbury Quadrant, a council new-build scheme was planned and then dropped. At the Drovers centre, a joint scheme with the neighbouring Goodinge medical centre was looked at and “abandoned due to viability”.

Empty sites still cost money. The report lists business rates, security and safety checks as holding costs that a sale would end.

The council has already raised almost £25m this way, the report says. That came from selling unused land at Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex and “under-utilised” commercial property on Old Street. It says those sales save more than £2m a year.

Where the money would go

Nine of the 14 sites are held in the Housing Revenue Account, the ring-fenced budget for council housing. Four are in the general fund. One, 19 Turle Road, is marked “tbc”.

  • Housing account sales would go towards buying family-sized homes. The aim is to cut the cost of temporary accommodation. The report puts the average price of a two-bedroom home at about £475,000.
  • General fund sales (Laycock, Drayton Park, the Clerkenwell forecourt and Newington Barrow Way) would be used to borrow less and save on interest. That eases what the report calls the council’s “significant” budget pressure.

The report gives a worked example. Each £1m of sale money used instead of borrowing would save the general fund about £83,000 a year, or £4.1m over 50 years.

Not every empty site is going

The report says some sites the council no longer uses are being kept for other plans:

  • homes at Maygood Street and Calshot Street
  • affordable workspace at Elthorne Road
  • affordable workspace at the old Montem school site

Where a site is empty while it waits, the council says it tries to offer it to community groups in the meantime.

The two occupied buildings

7 Newington Barrow Way stopped being council offices in 2025. A GP surgery on the first floor has a lease, and the council plans to use part of the building for public health services. The report says both would be protected as a condition of any sale.

48 Seven Sisters Road is used by Streets Kitchen on a meanwhile basis. The report says “suitable alternative premises would need to be identified” for the group, and that the council will work with it to find them. It does not say where, or by when.

Sotheby Mews is the one site with a named future. The council has agreed in principle to let it to the NHS on a long lease. A new medical centre would be built there and the Miller General Practice would move in. That depends on planning permission and funding.

The Laycock building is due to be empty this autumn, the report says.

What it means for you

Nothing was sold on 22 October. The decision lets officers appoint agents and lawyers and work through each sale one by one. The report says the timing will vary from site to site.

Most sites will be marketed openly. For some, the council expects a particular buyer to offer more than the market would, and will get a formal valuation to prove it got the best price.

The report says the sales may not need statutory public consultation, because the sites are not in use. It adds:

  • council tenants and local councillors must be consulted before any sale of housing land
  • where a site is on an estate or affects access to homes, the council will talk to the households affected
  • if any site counts as open space, the council must advertise the sale in a local newspaper for two weeks and consider objections before deciding

If you live next to one of these sites, or use one, you can ask your ward councillors about it. The Executive met on Thursday 22 October and the agenda is public. The decision was agreed on 22 October. The call-in deadline is 27 October, and the decision comes into force on 28 October if it is not called in.

Sources