High Court judges to consider appeal against location for holocaust centre

Campaigners will have their application to block plans for a national holocaust memorial to be built next to the Palace of Westminster heard at the High Court.

London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust expects judges to review their appeal on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The trust is opposed to the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre being built in Victoria Tower Gardens, which is adjacent to Parliament and sits on the bank of the River Thames in Westminster.

Part of a handful of groups to oppose the initial planning application, the trust’s appeal will focus on the impact the development will have on a heritage setting and will provide a list of possible alternative sites.

Planning permission was granted in July after then-planning minister Chris Pincher accepted a recommendation made by an inquiry.

Planning inspector David Morgan concluded that the centre, which will mark the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jewish people and other minorities during the Second World War, should be built in Victoria Tower Gardens after finding that alternative locations were not suitable.

His recommendation came after local public inquiries were held in October and November 2020 due to the application being called in for central consideration.

When signing off on the application, Mr Pincher said that building the memorial next to Westminster would present a “powerful associative message”, with the move welcomed by the Prime Minister and the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

But campaigners opposed to the decision have said the proposal is the “right idea in the wrong place”, and have called for the green space in central London to be protected.

A number of high-profile individuals and organisations have objected to the chosen site, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Westminster City Council.

Lord Williams and holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch were among 19 people to put their name to a letter in The Times on Thursday calling into question the location.

They said, as well as flooding concerns, there were issues around the “crowded and security-sensitive nature of the area”.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Helen Monger, director of London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust, said: “London’s parks give everyone space to reflect, relax and play, they should not be built on, but protected.

“UK Holocaust education and this historic environment deserve better than this scheme.”

Lucy Peck, from the Save Victoria Tower Gardens campaign, said: “This ill-conceived scheme has been steamrollered through by the Government without proper consultation and will irreparably damage one of the iconic views of London.

“It will put at risk the magnificent plane trees that line this precious riverside and will significantly increase the risk of flooding.”

Scheduled to open in 2024, the centre is intended to be the focal point for national remembrance of the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered in the Holocaust and all other victims of Nazi persecution, along with providing a place for reflection on “subsequent genocides”.

The Government has already committed that the Holocaust memorial will be free “in perpetuity” to visitors when it opens, putting it on the same footing as the UK’s most significant museums and monuments.

A total of £75 million of public money has already been put towards construction costs, with the investment due to be supplemented by £25 million from charitable donations.