In advance of a community gathering outside the former Holloway prison this Saturday, 18 February, to call for the Visitors’ Centre to be opened for community use, Will McMahon has been quoted in today’s London Evening Standard calling for a ‘people’s plan’ to develop the former Holloway site.

The Centre is currently engaged in developing a Community Plan for Holloway with local residents and community organisations, with the aim of developing a vison for the site that meets local need.

The article in the Standard suggests that the site might be able to hold 5,000 new homes, but experts argue that 500 is the most that could be bult on the site.

Commenting on the Saturday event Will said:

The Visitors’ Centre is a public building on public land, rather than being left empty for years until a decision is made about the future of the prison site, it should be opened for community use. It is modern and accessible with a large meeting space and decent sized rooms. We will be writing to the Ministry of Justice to ask them to loan the Visitors’ Centre to a partnership of local community groups so that it can be run by them in the community interest.