The London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust v The Minister of State for Housing
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mrs Justice Thornton |
| Judgment Date | 08 April 2022 |
| Neutral Citation | [2022] EWHC 829 (Admin) |
| Docket Number | Case No: CO/3041/2021 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
[2022] EWHC 829 (Admin)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
PLANNING COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
THE HONOURABLE Mrs Justice Thornton DBE
Case No: CO/3041/2021
and
Richard Drabble QC and Meyric Lewis (instructed by Richard Buxton Solicitors) for the Claimant
Timothy Mould QC and Matthew Henderson (instructed by Government Legal) for the First Defendant
Douglas Edwards QC (instructed by Bi-borough Legal Services) for the Second Defendant (written submissions only)
Christopher Katkowski QC and Kate Olley (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government
Zack Simons (instructed by Richard Max & Co LLP) for Learning from the Righteous
Hearing dates: 22 nd and 23 rd February 2022
Approved Judgment
The Hon.
Introduction
This is a claim for statutory review, pursuant to s. 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, of the decision by the Minister of State for Housing to grant planning permission for the installation of the United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre at Victoria Tower Gardens in Millbank, London.
The proposal for a UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre (‘the Holocaust Memorial’) was first announced in January 2015 in the Holocaust Commission's Report, ‘Britain's Promise to Remember’:
“ there should be a striking new memorial to serve as the focal point for national commemoration of the Holocaust. It should be prominently located in Central London to attract the largest possible number of visitors and to make a bold statement about the importance Britain places on preserving the memory of the Holocaust.”
All parties before the Court support the principle of a compelling memorial to the victims of the Holocaust and all those persecuted by the Nazis during those years when, “ humanity was tipped into the abyss of evil and depravity”. The memorial is an essential part of “ Britain's Promise to Remember” (Holocaust Commission Report). The Trust explained to the Court that many of its supporters are Jewish people whose families were either forced to flee the Holocaust or who perished in it.
The issue dividing the parties is the proposed location of the Memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens. Victoria Tower Gardens has considerable cultural, historical and heritage significance. It is located on the north bank of the River Thames immediately south of and adjacent to the Palace of Westminster and Black Rod Garden. It is a Grade II Registered Park and Garden. It contains within it three listed structures; the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst (Grade II listed), the statue of the Burghers of Calais (Grade I listed) and the Buxton Memorial Fountain (Grade II* listed). The site has contained a garden for public recreation since approximately 1880.
It is important to emphasise that the merits of the Memorial's proposed location in Victoria Tower Gardens are not a matter for the Court. Its location there may raise matters of legitimate public debate, but they are not matters for the Court to determine. The role of the Court in judicial review is concerned with resolving questions of law and ensuring that public bodies act within the limits of their legal powers.
The three issues that arise for consideration by the Court in this challenge are:
1) Did the inspector err in his assessment of harm to the historic environment of the Gardens; in particular the setting of the Buxton Memorial?
2) Does the London County Council (Improvements) Act 1900 impose a statutory prohibition on locating the Memorial in the Gardens?
3) Did the inspector err in his treatment of alternative sites for the Memorial?
Background
The parties
The Claimant is the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust (‘the Trust’). It is a small charity with the principal object of preserving and enhancing the quality and integrity of London's green open spaces. The First Defendant is the Minister of State for Housing (‘the Minister’) and decision maker on the planning application. The Second Defendant is Westminster City Council, the local planning authority for the area. The First Interested Party is the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the applicant for planning permission. The Second Interested Party is Learning from the Righteous, a Holocaust Education Charity concerned to highlight the contemporary relevance of Holocaust Education.
The Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre
On 27 January 2014, on Holocaust Memorial Day, the then Prime Minister launched the Holocaust Commission. Its task was to examine what more should be done in Britain to ensure that the memory of the Holocaust is preserved and the lessons it teaches are never forgotten. In January 2015, the Commission published a report titled ‘Britain's Promise to Remember’. The report concluded that there should be a striking memorial prominently located in Central London. It would serve as the focal point for national commemoration of the Holocaust. A location in Central London would attract the largest possible number of visitors. The aim would be to make a bold statement about the importance Britain places on preserving the memory of the Holocaust.
Victoria Tower Gardens
Victoria Tower Gardens is a Grade II Registered Garden and area of accessible public open space, located on the north bank of the River Thames, immediately south and adjacent to the Palace of Westminster and Black Rod Garden. The site is bounded by Abingdon Street and Millbank to the west, the River Thames to the east and Horseferry Road/Lambeth Bridge to the south.
Within the Gardens there are three listed structures: the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst (Grade II listed), the statue of the Burghers of Calais (Grade I listed) and the Buxton Memorial Fountain (Grade II* listed). The Grade II listed River Embankment from the Houses of Parliament to Lambeth Bridge forms the eastern (river) edge of the Gardens.
The site is also within the setting of a number of other listed buildings and structures, including the Grade I listed Palace of Westminster, Lambeth Bridge (Grade II listed), Victoria Tower Lodge and Gates to Black Rod Garden (Grade I listed), Norwest House, Millbank (Grade II listed), The Church Commissioners (Grade II* listed) and Lambeth Palace (Grade I listed).
The site is located within the Westminster Abbey and Parliament Square Conservation Area and is immediately south of the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including St. Margaret's Church World Heritage Site. The site is to the east of the Smith Square Conservation Area.
Site selection
The UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation was established with cross-party support to deliver the recommendations of the Holocaust Memorial Commission. Its work included a call for potential sites.
In 2015, after studying the available options, three central London sites were identified; the Imperial War Museum; Potter's Field and Millbank. They were all regarded as fulfilling the Commission's objective to provide a striking new memorial prominently located in Central London.
In January 2016, the then Prime Minster announced that the memorial would be built in Victoria Tower Gardens. A design competition was launched in September 2016 and in October 2017 it was announced that Adjaye Associates, Ron Arad Architects and the landscape architects Gustafson Porter + Bowman had been selected to design the Memorial and Learning Centre for the Gardens.
The selection of Victoria Tower Gardens as the site was controversial. In its closing submissions to the planning inquiry, the Trust expressed concern that the Gardens were chosen without any professional assessment to support the choice of the site and no public consultation as to its suitability, acceptability or desirability as a location. Proper consideration of alternative sites were said to have received scant consideration. The Trust expressed further concern that the site search process was not a matter for scrutiny in the public inquiry. These concerns formed part of the Trust's submissions to the Court on the Inspector's approach to alternative sites.
Planning application
In January 2019, the Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government applied to the Council for planning permission for the Memorial to be located in the Gardens. Plans of the design illustrate the Memorial as comprising 23 bronze fins honouring the millions of Jewish men, women and children who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and all other victims of persecution, including Roma, gay and disabled people. The 23 bronze fins will create 22 pathways into and from the Learning Centre which will be constructed below ground.
In November 2019, the then Minister for Housing directed that the planning application be referred to her for determination, pursuant to section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Given the Secretary of State was the applicant for planning permission handling arrangements were put in place at the Government Legal Department and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (as renamed since the decision under challenge) to ensure there was, and is, a functional separation between the persons bringing forward the proposal and the persons responsible for determining the proposal. Following a successful legal challenge by the Trust to the decision making arrangements the arrangements were revised and published ( London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust v the Secretary of State for...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Mrs Heini Wathen-Fayed v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
...see R(Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)) v North Yorkshire County Council [2020] PYSR 221 at [30]–[32]. London Historic Parks and Garden Trust v Minister of State for Housing [2022] EWHC 829 (Admin) is an example of such a case: see Thornton J's judgment at 62 The inspector was under a ......
- Hough, R v Secretary of State for the Home Department
-
Cotham School v Bristol City Council
...if I may respectfully say so, seems unsurprising. 49 I was also referred to the decision of Thornton J in London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust v Minister of State for Housing [2022] EWHC 829 (Admin). This concerned the siting of the Holocaust memorial in central London. The proposal, pr......
-
Secretary of State for Transport v Curzon Park Ltd and Others
...Car and Commercial Ltd) v Chelmsford Borough Council [2005] EWHC 1705 (Admin), [2006] 2 P & CR 12; London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust v Minister of State for Housing [2022] EWHC 829 (Admin), para 130 (“the alternative sites point”). The Secretary of State maintains that the applicati......