Mr Zayd Al-Jawad
Planning Department
Islington Council
Box 3333, 222 Upper Street
London, N1 1YA

Dear Mr Al-Jawad
We are writing to thank you for giving us the opportunity to comment on the draft 106 agreement in relation to St Georges Theatre, and attach four documents in relation to this:
• Detailed Comments on House on the Rock’s Policy Document
• Statement on the Architectural Impact of the proposed modifications to the building
• Neighbourhood Issues raised in relation to Islington Council’s stated Planning Policies
• Ownership Issues raised by the Planning Agreement in relation to St Georges Theatre

I trust that these will reach you in time to include them with other responses – we have collated ours from a wide group representing many different interest groups in the local and London-wide and national theatrical community. For the time being we rely you to convey our response to the appropriate parties. However, once we have safely lodged these important documents with you, we will proceed to contact other individuals and organizations who may be able to assist us in the campaign.
We have opened up a web space in order to keep track of the campaign and additional material is posted there, which you are welcome to consult and to contribute to. The front page includes the opening comments shown below. Many thanks indeed for your assistance in this matter
Yours sincerely
Mary Fee, Contact person
Save St Georges Theatre Campaign

St Georges Theatre, 49 Tufnell Park Road, London N7 0PS, must be one of the most neglected buildings with the greatest potential in London. How has its plight come to pass? Once owned by the Church of England, when it became unmanageable for the diminishing local congregation, it was sold on to a local charitable trust to guarantee its continuing use as a local theatre which functioned for several decades. By some unnown process it came into private ownership and after a period of neglect, came on the open market and has recently been bought up by an evangelical church organisation. The granting of planning permission for it to revert from theatrical to church use at Islington Council's Planning Meeting in February 2005 subject to a "106 agreement" governing the future hire of the space for local community organisations, appeared to be a foregone conclusion - why? - despite strongly and eloquently voiced protests by a wide range of organisations and individuals who wish the building to remain accessible to the wider community. Different groups have focused on various aspects of the problem, eg legal, architectural, and neighbourhood issues.

Save St Georges Theatre Campaign has been set up by a group of local residents who are independent of the recent occupiers, to promote dialogue between the various groups involved. We are assembling historical and current information on this website and welcome useful additions to this common resource. We are continuing the campaign, not against the current legal owners, but to gain support from the authorities towards keeping the theatre accessible to the community. Papers on this website include objections and commentary to the current draft of the "106" agreement between the owners, the council and the mortgagers of the property. As third parties to this agreement we will pursue our right to complain to the Local Authority Ombudsman regarding the conduct of Islington Council's Planning Department in this case.