In a letter to the Islington Gazette, housing campaigner Glyn Robbins has demanded that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announces who is in line to buy Holloway prison, as the site still remains empty nearly two years after its closure.

The letter reads:

”In summer we witnessed the debacle of prisons minister Rory Stewart telling us a preferred bidder for the Holloway prison site would be ready by the end of the year, then a Ministry of Justice spokesperson saying a buyer would be announced by the end of summer, writes Glyn Robbins, Community Plan for Holloway.

It’s now nearly the end of October and we’ve heard nothing.

The government had already missed its original deadline of spring 2018 for the sale. It is three years since its closure was announced and now more than two years since Holloway Prison closed, in which time the Visitors Centre, a building that could have been put to community use, has scandalously remained empty.

Local campaigners have demanded maximum council housing and have called on the mayor to take actions to ensure the site remains in public ownership. Islington Council has made it clear it expects any future development on the site to include at least 50 per cent genuinely affordable housing, public open space, community facilities, and services for women.

The Ministry of Justice needs to tell us who is buying the site and start building the genuinely affordable housing Islington desperately needs.”