The proposal to build on Victoria Tower Gardens has been granted Royal Assent, clearing the way for bulldozers to move in.
The site is a Grade II listed historic park in a conservation zone, forming part of the Westminster World Heritage Site. Local residents and Westminster Council reject the proposal as it effectively destroys a rare green space of quiet contemplation and children’s play, the only one in the area alongside the river Thames.
The park was protected by an Act of Parliament and is home to important Grade I and Grade II protected memorials to the anti-slavery movement (recently restored), suffragette organiser Emmeline Pankhurst, and nearby, Auguste Rodin’s Burghers of Calais bronze depicting bravery and compassion. London Parks and Gardens has campaigned to save this small park of less than half an acre in size for more than a decade, but the space is not yet lost.
Its future integrity is threatened by a proposal to build a UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in the space. LPG has successfully challenged this project since 2016 on the grounds it ignores legal protection granted to the park, and the plans would forever change the nature of the space. Our views have been upheld through the planning process and in the courts, yet successive Governments are determined to impose this substantial development in this treasured small public green space.
LPG fully supports the creation of a holocaust memorial and learning centre, but not in Victoria Tower Gardens. The site was not identified in the original submission of locations which aligned with criteria set out in the London Plan for development and the Government’s own greening ambitions, unlike VTG.
In 2025, LPG successfully nominated the Gardens for inclusion in Europe’s Most Threatened heritage sites run by the civil society group Europa Nostra and backed by the European Investment Bank Institute.
We have asked numerous times for Victoria Tower Gardens to be added to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk list. We were told that wouldn’t be possible because there was no threat as the proposal had not been approved. Royal Assent effectively gives that approval. We will be requesting listed status now be prioritised.
In gaining Royal Assent, Ministers have given themselves the authority to review their own own planning proposal. This denies City of Westminster Councillors and planning officers any opportunity to review the impacts of the development or to ensure existing infrastructure, such as transport movements or local amenity provision, are taken into account.
We believe the park is the wrong location because the designs by Sir David Adjaye and Ron Arad presented to, and rejected by, Westminster City Council … and subsequently considered at a planning inquiry will:
- contravene the park’s legal protection (Minister’s have now – Jan 2026 – voted to remove this legal protection);
- irreparably change its heritage status and atmosphere for visitors;
- detract from, and belittle, the importance of the existing Grade I and Grade II listed memorials;
- run counter to the London Plan for development and the Government’s own greening ambitions;
- consume 40% of the open green lawn space and 20% or one fifth of the total area – see plans for before and after;
- destroy sightlines and undermine the historic design of the park’s layout and features;
- cut the roots of the park’s majestic and historic London Plane Trees during excavations, threatening their stability and health;
- isolate and reduce the playground size by about a third, cutting it off from the body of the park and pushing it closer to a main road; and
- increase flood risk by reducing the ability for the park to act as a mitigation for climate change including surface water absorption.
LPG took the Government to court and won, quashing the illegal planning approval. As a result, the Government has now pushed a Bill through parliament stripping away those legal protections which had safeguarded the park since 1900.
Normally, London Parks and Gardens is an enabler of good development. We feel strongly in this case the proposal harms UK heritage, destroys a protected and valued green space unnecessarily contravening Government and the Mayor of London’s green space policies, and that planning processes have been over-ridden.
After ten years of asking, we have yet to hear why ministers are adamant Victoria Tower Gardens is the only suitable site given its historic and protected status, and for them to acknowledge it would impact 40% of the open lawned area, not 7.5% as they claim.
Whatever happens next, we will incur costs and have launched a CrowdJustice page to raise money to pay for legal support. Please make a donation and help us ensure this proposal doesn’t set legal precedents which could leave all UK green spaces vulnerable to destruction.
If you want to find out more, you can visit our Record of Events, with a timeline of, and correspondence linked to, the campaign.
How you can help?
Donate
We welcome donations to help us continue challenging this project and supporting our other work.
We thank all who have contributed to our campaign. Your funding has enabled our legal challenges with the generous support of Richard Buxton Environmental Solicitors and their team of barristers including Meyric Lewis, John Howell QC and Richard Drabble QC.
Throughout the campaign, we have worked with other campaign groups, including Save Victoria Tower Gardens and the Thorney Island Society, as well as individuals including Baroness Ruth Deech.
Take Action
The Charity has also sought on three occasions for the park and the Buxton Memorial to be declared Heritage At Risk by Historic England. So far that request has been dismissed as premature. We are waiting to hear if a fourth request will also be rejected. Please support our bid by writing to Historic England asking for the park to be declared Heritage At Risk: londonseast@HistoricEngland.org.uk
Write to your MP asking for them to stop the Holocaust Memorial Bill from passing through parliament in order to defend Victoria Tower Gardens, and lobby members of the House of Lords.
The Park
Victoria Tower Gardens, in central London, site alongside the Thames and provides the setting for the World Heritage Site around Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. It is a Grade II listed Park and contains numerous historically significant monuments including the Buxton Memorial, listed Grade II* in its own right. The Charity prepared a Statement of Significance about the site based on research from our Inventory entry to demonstrate the destructive nature of the Government’s proposals.
Investigating Victoria Tower Gardens: Historian and former House of Commons Clerk Dr Dorian Gerhold describes how a deep-dive into the history of Victoria Tower Gardens may have preserved it for the future.
