London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has rejected thousands of calls to bid for the empty Holloway Prison site – but said yesterday it would be an “outrage” if it ended up as vacant luxury housing, reports the Islington Gazette.

A petition calling for Sadiq Khan to bid for the land and build council homes, community facilities and a women’s building gained more than 5,000 signatures in just two weeks. The Mayor has said he is concerned the site will be ‘land banked’ and has written to the Justice Minister, David Lidington, to raise this and offer support from the Homes for Londoners team.

Rebecca Roberts, of Community Plan for Holloway told the Islington Gazette,

“The Ministry of Justice have been clear that their main concern is profit, rather than considering the needs and views of the local community.”

In a tweet earlier this week, Shadow Justice Secretary, Richard Burgon MP, said,