Westminster Holocaust memorial application lodged

Planning application for the new Holocaust memorial opposite Parliament has been lodged with Westminster Council, as a petition against its construction in a Royal Park notched up 10,000 signatures.

The £100million project, part-funded by the Government, is led by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation – whose co-chairs Ed Balls and Lord Pickles were appointed March 2018 – has been asked by residents to choose an alternative location to Victoria Tower Gardens. David Cameron’s Holocaust Commission.

The former prime minister said the new monument would be “a statement of British values” welcoming one million visitors per year.

Jewish peers and MPs have since expressed their opposition to the choice of location, as have residents, who have formed the campaign group Save Victoria Tower Gardens.

However the Imperial War Museum, which is due to open its new permanent Holocaust Galleries exhibit in 2021, last month dropped its own objection to the new memorial and learning centre in the park, saying it believed it could avoid duplication.