Site Limited) v Secretary of State for Transport [2021] EWHC 2161 (Admin) was
about the construction of a new route for the A303 in Wiltshire; R (J (A Child)) v
North Warwickshire BC [2001] P.L.C.R. 31 was about a proposal for eight affordable
bungalows for older people; Derbyshire Dales DC v Secretary of State for
Communities and Local Government [2010] 1 P. & C.R. 19 concerned a proposal for
4 wind turbines; and R (Langley Park School for Girls Governors) v Bromley LBC
[2010] 1 P. & C.R. 10 was about re-building a school in Kent. These examples - a
hotel; school building; affordable bungalow; wind turbine – may be located in any
number of places and still function in the same way.
138. I accept Mr Simons’ submission that the depth of meaning associated with
locating the Holocaust Memorial next to the Houses of Parliament sets the present
case apart from the other case law on alternatives put before the Court. The Inspector
accepted that the proposed location in Victoria Tower Gardens meets the core
expectations of the recommendations of the Holocaust Commission’s report. Its
location would help the scheme to make a “clear and unequivocal statement about
the degree of importance we as a nation place on preserving the memory of the
Holocaust” which would “readily serve as a focal point for its national
commemoration”. He accepted that there is an explicit and direct relationship between
the significance and prominence of any given site and the value and status that
individuals assign to the events commemorated (IR15.157). The Scheme’s location
next to Parliament in a place of “national and indeed international importance” was
found to be justified (15.158). The Inspector continued in the same paragraph that: if
one accepts the primacy of location in recognising the importance of the Holocaust, it
follows that the selection of a less significant location connotes a lesser degree of
significance to the purpose of that commemoration.”
Nonetheless; I did not
understand Mr Simons to be proposing a new legal proposition to reflect the
distinction. The matter remains one of planning judgment for the Inspector who found
in this case that the location in Victoria Tower Gardens merits considerable weight. I
agree with Mr Simons that this sets the context for the exercise of his planning
judgment in the consideration of alternative sites for the Memorial.
139. Having reached his conclusion on the suitability of Victoria Tower Gardens, the
Inspector made the following observation in which he accepted the relevance of
alternative sites:
“15.163 the belief that if the proposals were moved to another
location, specifically the IWM, the clouds of such controversy
would lift and a universal consensus on the merits of that
location be achieved is, to say the least, optimistic. From what
I heard at the Inquiry and saw during my site visit, the debate
over the merits of that location, the relationship of its purpose
to its host, and the environmental and social costs it might
entail, would still prevail. Nevertheless, a consideration of
such alternative sites is reasonable and justified in light of the
matters raised at the Inquiry.” (IR 15.163) (emphasis added)
51
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