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Victoria Tower Gardens

London Parks & Gardens is seeking to defend this grade 2 listed public park in Central London. The Government wishes to build the UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre within the park and the current proposals will take up at least 26% of the surface area of the park’s amenity green space; cut the roots of historic London Plane Trees; diminish the playground and push it closer to a main road; and reduce the ability for the park to act as a mitigation for climate change including sudden surface water absorption.

On 27 January 2023 the Prime Minister announced his intention to repeal an Act of Parliament that protected the gardens despite the charity’s best endeavours having won a High Court challenge against the Minister for Housing’s decision to give planning permission.

We welcome donations to help us continue to challenge this project or other parks we are concerned about. We thank all those who have contributed to our campaign, whether through Crowdjustice or directly. This 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.

We continue to publish correspondence and keep a Record of Events if you want to find out more; see the latest about the Bill being proposed for Parliament or see the Court Judgments on the successive cases we have taken to defend this historic park.

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.

Victoria Tower Gardens

Victoria Tower Gardens, in central London, runs immediately along the Thames and provides the setting for the World Heritage Site around Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. The Charity has prepared a Statement of Significance about the site to elaborate on the Inventory entry.

In July 2022 the National Audit Office the Government’s spending watchdograised a number of concerns about the scheme, including the lack of work to find a suitable alternative site and the cost management. The management of the project continues to be a concern.

The Charity has also sought for the park to be declared Heritage At Risk by Historic England. So far that request has been dismissed as premature. The Charity disagrees as a planning permission was only quashed by going to the High Court.

Further reading

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.

How you can help?

Donate now to support our other planning campaigns work. 

Write to Historic England asking for the park to be declared as Heritage At Risk until such time as the project is withdrawn: 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.