The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has agreed to step in and speed up a planning application that could lead to the construction of almost 700 much-needed homes on the site of the iconic Mount Pleasant postal sorting office.

Royal Mail Group want to build 683 homes as well as shops, offices, restaurants and public space on half of the site in Farringdon. If given the go-ahead, the scheme would transform the area surrounding Farringdon Road and Phoenix Place.

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The site straddles the London boroughs of Islington and Camden but with on-going disagreement over some aspects of the scheme it appears unlikely that the boroughs will be in a position to determine the two applications in the near future.

As a result Royal Mail wrote to the Mayor to ask if he would agree to take on the role of planning authority for the scheme, and he has now agreed to do so.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: "London is growing at an unprecedented rate and it is absolutely vital that we get on with the important work of building thousands of new homes as quickly as we can. By taking over this application it should be possible to speed up the decision making process. My team will be working closely with the local authorities and Royal Mail without further delay."

(CD/MH)