Northern Heights plan, and subsequently used to house a youth project. The whole project was executed at a total cost of £13m to Islington Council. The project was opposed by the Friends of the Parkland Walk, the Ashmount Site Action Group the Highgate Society and the 20th Century Society all of whom favoured retention of the original school building on the original site off Hornsey Lane. It was also opposed by the Islington Green Party. The project was supported by both the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, by the Ashmount School governors, by Ashmount school parents and by Bowlers Nursery. When the council carried out a consultation amongst residents, two thirds of the respondents were in favour of the scheme. The project was also closely scrutinised by the Mayor of London whose consent was required as the land is specially protected Metropolitan Open Land and further examined by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who could have chosen to call the project in and hold a public inquiry but despite requests to do so, did not. Objections to the project were made both to Islington, to the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State. An application for judicial review was threatened, but in the event did not materialise. Further, a formal complaint against the council for proceeding with the project was made to the Local Government Ombudsman by the "Ashmount Site Action Group" (ASAG) but was not upheld. In the council election of 2010 all three councillors elected for the local ward, in Islington, Hillrise, (two Liberal Democrat, one Labour) had publicly declared their support for the scheme. The project was financed by Islington Council under a number of budget headings recognising that the project was contributing to the re accommodation of several different bodies. It also received a special grant due to its "low carbon" status. In particular it was expected that a significant part of the cost of reproviding Ashmount School would be raised by realising the value of the old school site on Hornsey Lane. However, when Islington Council, relying on the recommendations of a planning inspector, applied to the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove for permission to cease to use the old site for a school, permission was refused, and the site was requisitioned, without compensation to Islington Council, for use by a Free School. In order to conform with