Mrs Justice Thornton said the trust’s case against the planning permission decision succeeded in relation to its arguments over the 1900 act.
08 April 2022
Campaigners have won their High Court bid to quash planning permission for a new national Holocaust memorial in a park outside Parliament.
The London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust is opposed to a new UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre being built in Victoria Tower Gardens, a small triangular Grade II-listed green space next to Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster.
The charity brought a case against the Government, arguing the project is the “right idea, wrong place” and that the planning permission decision-making process was flawed.
At a hearing in February, the trust, whose challenge was opposed by ministers, claimed there was an “unlawful” approach to the consideration of alternative sites and highlighted the alleged impact the development might have on the heritage setting, including the Buxton Memorial which celebrates the abolition of slavery.
The trust’s lawyer, Richard Drabble QC, also said plans did not comply with a 1900 legal act affecting park land, whose requirements represented “a prohibition on using Victoria Tower Gardens as anything other than a garden open to the public”.
In a ruling issued on Friday, Mrs Justice Thornton said the trust’s case against the planning permission decision succeeded in relation to its arguments over the 1900 act.
The judge said the act “imposes an enduring obligation” to retain land “as a public garden and integral part of the existing Victoria Tower Gardens”.
She concluded: “Accordingly, the appropriate remedy is to quash the decision, so as to enable further consideration of the implications of the London County Council (Improvements) Act 1900 for the proposed scheme.”
Campaigners claimed the memorial’s proposed location risks affecting the park “irrevocably” and previously raised concerns over the alleged impact on local trees, potential flooding, and heritage monuments.
Lawyers for the Government argued that there was “no error of law” in the decision-making process and that policy had not been “misinterpreted or misapplied”.
Planning permission for the memorial was granted last July by then-planning minister Chris Pincher following a public inquiry and the recommendations of planning inspector David Morgan.
It came after the Government “called in” the decision in November 2019 rather than have it determined by the local authority – Westminster City Council.
The council is among a number of high-profile organisations and individuals to have objected to the chosen site, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
The memorial, which was due to open in 2024, aims 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”.
Previously released plans featured a single-storey pavilion and 23 bronze fins that would create 22 pathways into the below-ground learning centre, with the Government committing to it being free to enter “in perpetuity”.
Some £75 million of public money has already been put towards construction costs, which was due to be supplemented by £25 million from charitable donations.
