A legal challenge by the London Parks and Gardens Trust over plans for a Holocaust memorial next to Parliament has started at the High Court.
image: for illustration purposes
only – Parliamentary copyright images
are reproduced with the permission of Parliament
BBC News writes:
Westminster Council initially refused permission for the monument, which would include 23 bronze fins and an underground learning centre.
But after an inquiry last year, the government overturned that decision and gave the go ahead to the scheme.
Now the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust is challenging what it claims was a “flawed” process.
The monument would be built in Victoria Tower Gardens, a small triangular Grade II-listed park next to Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster.
Former Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans for the project in 2016 but it has been beset by disagreements over its meaning, public safety and possible harm to parkland.
At the High Court, Richard Drabble QC, representing the trust, said planning permission should be quashed due to the scheme being the “right idea, wrong place”…
Planning permission for the memorial was granted last July by then-planning minister Chris Pincher following a public inquiry.
However, Timothy Mould QC, for the government, said the trust’s case should be dismissed, arguing there was “no error of law”.
The memorial, due to open in 2024, 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”.
Some £75m of public money has already been put towards construction costs….
