Campaigners say the loss of a much-loved football pitch in east London to a housebuilding programme will be a huge blow to the local community.

Hackney’s Keith Miller sports pitch is known locally as the “San Siro of east London” – for non-football fans, that’s the famous Milan stadium that is one of the biggest in Europe. The Hackney version, however, is due to be demolished at the end of the year so that urgently needed social homes can be built.

The project will take two years and Hackney council is promising new green and ball play spaces once it is complete. But community organisers say young people in the area rely on the unique freedom to use the cage daily and will have nowhere else to go.

“I don’t know where the kids will go,” says Tara Darby, a photographer who has been documenting life in the cage for the past year.

“I was inspired to start taking photos when I visited with my seven-year-old,” she says. “There was a group of 18-year-old boys playing a match and they asked him to come and take penalties with them. It was a magic moment.”

The pitch is tucked away behind one of the most gentrified corners of London, Broadway Market and London Fields. Darby says it belongs to a different world.

“It has a big wall that shields it, so it feels like its own world, a stage. There is no booking system; if you turn up and there’s a match, you wait or maybe get invited to be an extra player. It’s self-governing and democratic and brings a lot of much-needed joy in a world where teenagers are heavily judged and policed.”

Darby is leading calls for more to be done to find a replacement while building work takes place.

“It’s really great that the council have found a space to run the official training sessions,” she says, “but the free access will go. It will be a huge loss for two years, and then what we get is smaller and there is a risk it won’t be the same.”

Darby’s photos show a vibrant world of street football, lively competitions, and training sessions run both by committed volunteers and organised groups. At least one top-level professional footballer – former Arsenal defender Kirsty Pealling – grew up playing here.

Trent, one of the young regulars at the cage, lives nearby. He says: “We call this the San Siro of east London because as you approach it you can’t see it, you can just hear the noise. Players feel like professional footballers when they’re inside because it’s such a unique space. People might walk past and see 30 boys playing in this cage and think, ‘Oh my God what are they up to,’ but they’re just enjoying themselves, learning about themselves and growing as people.”

He says the area has become polarised between rich and poor, and spaces like this are vital. “Kids can’t go to London Fields at the weekend because it’s rammed with people drinking expensive coffees and it feels alien, whereas this place is special to them.”

The redevelopment of the area is part of Hackney council’s housebuilding programme. It will bring 400 new homes to the area, two-thirds of them council homes for social rent.

“Infill” projects by councils across London look for underused pockets of land on existing estates to build desperately needed homes. About 210,000 Londoners are homeless and living in temporary accommodation, and this figure includes 102,000 children.

But many residents living on densely built council estates say vital community spaces are being targeted.

In similar battles in Peckham and Bermondsey in south-east London, campaigners fought hard to save popular football cages and doorstep play spaces. They warn that once rebuilt, they are often more overlooked and subject to more complaints.

Last week, a coalition of more than 40 organisations and experts campaigning for children’s health and wellbeing wrote to Andy Burnham asking him to make it easier for children to play outside.

The letter leads with a call for the removal of “discriminatory” “No ball games” signs and warns that too many restrictions and rules are keeping children out of spaces where they used to play and socialise more freely.

Hackney council says it has listened to local people and has ensured there will be high-quality doorstep spaces including a football pitch on the finished estate.

A spokesperson said: “We know the existing Keith Miller sports pitch is an important community asset, which is why we are re-providing an improved astroturf pitch as part of our plans. While construction takes place, we will work with a nearby school to continue running the vital activities for young people, such as the sessions run by Arsenal in the Community.”

But, as Michael Johnston, a primary school teacher who runs regular tournaments at the cage, points out, it is the informal use that will be a huge loss. “There is nowhere else like this nearby, it’s a really special space. I was here at the weekend and there was a team of deaf players out on it. I bring the younger children who aren’t old enough to self-organise. It’s particularly vital in the winter, as the street lights mean it can be used when it’s too dark and wet in the park.”

He points to the increasing cost of many similar pitches.

“The nearest cage like it is a pay-per-hour one in the park. When it’s gone, I worry the young people will just be left wandering the local estates.”