In a survey of 258 local residents ‘Mount Pleasant Circus’, a scheme presented by Create Streets and Legatum Institute think tank, was preferred by 99 percent of respondents. ‘Mount Pleasant Circus’ is an alternative to Royal Mail’s plan to build large blocks and towers, a scheme which was backed by only 9% of residents.
The organisations behind ‘Mount Pleasant Circus’ say that this positive feedback shows that Residents of Mount Pleasant, like the great majority of Britons, prefer to live in conventional streets rather than large multi-storey buildings.
Analysis conducted by Create Streets and Legatum Institute think tank estimates that over a 40-year period the Mount Pleasant Circus could be worth up to one-third more than Royal Mail’s development, perhaps largely due to the transport connections factored into the alternative plan. This would represent up to £280m lost value to Royal Mail Group and £84m to the taxpayer as a shareholder of Royal Mail. Create Streets and Legatum Institute think tank suggest that additional value could readily be used to finance additional social housing.
The alternative development plan to provide traditional terraced housing is based on research which claims that living in conventional streets makes people happier, less stressed and less likely to be victims of crime, whereas large multi-storey buildings have exactly the opposite effect. In 40 out of 42 controlled studies residents of high-rise blocks suffer from more strain and mental health difficulties than those in low-rise buildings, even when socio-economic status is identical. For example, 62 percent of mothers with children under the age of 5 living on the sixth floor or above reported difficulties with the ‘play, health or personality’ of their children. In contrast, only 3 percent of mothers in houses reported issues.
Create Streets and Legatum Institute think tank believe their alternative will allow the residents of Mount Pleasant to bring up their children more easily, and behave more sociably to their neighbours. The organisations propose that ‘Mount Pleasant Circus’ maximises London’s key values of connectivity, sustainability and prosperity in a way that the Royal Mail proposal does not.
Nicholas Boys-Smith, Director of Create Streets, says:
“The right answer for solving London’s housing crisis is high density terraced streets. People love them, they are worth more, they go up in value faster and they could easily provide sufficient homes to meet London’s housing crisis. Instead the current scheme proposes a large green space that no one can access, an urban form that the local community regard as a ‘fortress’, a tower block facing a primary school and a so-called square which is cut off by a busy road. We call on investors and landowners to put more focus on understanding better the value of place and how it fructifies and builds over time. We also urge them to think of residents not as a nuisance to be consulted but as allies to be empowered. This would encourage more development and more popular development. All of London, and all Londoners, would benefit.”
Sian Hansen, Executive Director of the Legatum Institute, says:
“I am delighted that we could work with Create Streets to propose an alternative that is visionary, popular and viable. We believe the alternative design brings greater and longer-term prosperity to this community”
The deadline for proposals for the Mount Pleasant site is 3 October 2014. Copies of the report are available
here.