The planning permission for the memory and training center was granted last year after a six-week public survey. The government had asked for the decision from Westminster City Council amid a dispute over the plan. Earlier this year, the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust filed a lawsuit against the government. Opponents of the plan included former Canterbury Archbishop Rowan Williams, local community groups and some Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors. The memorial project was started by David Cameron in 2015 and supported by the Council of Representatives of British Jews. A team led by Sir David Adjaye was selected to design the project following a competition that attracted some of the world’s leading architectural consortia. It was to be built in the Victoria Tower Gardens, a small green space on Grade II next to Westminster Abbey and Westminster Palace, and was expected to cost more than 100 100 million. In a ruling Friday, Ms Thornton said all those involved in the case “support the principle of a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and to all those persecuted by the Nazis in those years when” humanity was driven to the abyss. of evil and extortion ”. The divisive issue, he said, was “the proposed location of the monument in the Victoria Tower Gardens.” At a hearing in February, the Trust, challenged by ministers, argued that the development would have an impact on the cultural heritage scene, including the Buxton Memorial, which celebrates the abolition of slavery. The trustee, Richard Drabble QC, also said the plans did not comply with a 1900 law affecting land in a park, the requirements of which represented “a ban on the use of Victoria Tower Gardens as anything other than a garden open to the public.” ». In Friday’s decision, Thornton said the trust case against the planning permission was successful in relation to his arguments about the 1900 law. The act “imposes a permanent obligation” to maintain the land “as a public garden and an integral part of the existing Victoria Tower Gardens,” he said. The ruling said the decision “sets out a deep understanding of the garden’s history as a sound basis for the protection of a historic London public park”. In an email to her supporters, its director, Helen Monger, said the government had filed an appeal against the decision, which was being challenged by its lawyers. The Holocaust Remembrance Day Trust said the decision was sad. Olivia Marks-Waldman, CEO, said: “We believe that the need to create a permanent Holocaust memorial for future generations is particularly acute, given the continuing prejudice and situations around the world where people face horrors and war crimes. “We are surprised by the decision of the Supreme Court and we hope that this does not exclude or overshadow the ardent need for the national monument.” Barbara Weiss of the Save Victoria Tower Gardens campaign team said: “We are very pleased that the design permit for the Holocaust Memorial and Holocaust Learning Center in Victoria Tower Gardens has been revoked. We have been arguing for many years that the government is pursuing the right idea in the wrong place. “Today’s decision sends a strong message about the protection of public parks.” Some opponents of the plan have argued that it could reduce the new Holocaust Gallery at the Imperial War Museum in London and the National Center and Holocaust Museum in Nottinghamshire. The construction of the monument was expected to start this year and be completed by 2025.
