The Campaign

Local people drew up a planning strategy to reverse the destruction of their community by building new homes and community facilities. Central to this strategy was use of the eight largely derelict Coin Street sites.

In 1977, after a developer had announced plans to build Europe's tallest hotel and over 1 million square feet of office space on the sites, the Coin Street Action Group was set up. The Action Group drew up plans for housing, a new riverside park and walkway, managed workshops, shops and leisure facilities.

Seven years of extraordinary campaigning, including two year-long public inquiries, followed.

A number of office developers competed for the site then joined forces. After the second inquiry planning permission was granted for both the office and the community schemes.

Half of the area was owned by the office developers and half by the Greater London Council (GLC). The GLC had originally supported the office developers but, after 1981, it supported the community scheme. In 1984 the office developers sold their land to the GLC which, in turn, sold the whole site to Coin Street Community Builders.