38. Mr Drabble went onto submit that whatever view of matters the Inspector expressed
in IR 15.12 - 13, the approach he actually adopted in his task of assessing harm was to
apply a test of significance draining away. In this regard Mr Drabble pointed the
Court to several passages in the Report (IR15.88; 15.117; and 15.187).
39. I am not however persuaded that the Inspector fell into the error suggested by Mr
Drabble.
40. The Inspector assesses the harm to the setting of the Buxton Memorial at IR15.65 –
15.69 as follows:
“The Setting of the Buxton Memorial (BM), a Grade II* Listed
Building
15.65 There is no purpose in repeating the assessments of the
BM’s special architectural and historic interest and
significance previously set out in evidence. It is listed at Grade
II*, reflecting not only the conspicuous idiosyncratic flair of its
designer, but also the nationally and internationally important
events it memorialises. Despite its relocation from its intended
place in Parliament Square, its present location in VTG,
commemorating the courageous actions of lawmakers serving
in the Palace of Westminster just to the north, remains an
element of its special interest and significance.
15.66 Beyond these primary attributes, it is clear that the open
spatial context to the memorial is a constituent of its
significance. One element of this significance is the formal,
though opportunistic perspective of Dean Stanley Street, where
the monument may be viewed and appreciated in framed long
perspective. But a more relevant contributor is the sense of
space around the structure, allowing the viewer to at first
perceive its distant presence, then be drawn by its ‘fanciful’
play of forms, detail and colour and then, when close,
appreciate its memorial purpose and importance.
15.67 As set out above, the safeguarding of the setting of the
BM would be most successfully mediated in views looking north
along the Embankment path, and along the Embankment itself.
Here, the monument would retain its pre-eminence within its
wider context. However, from other points, most particularly
when viewing the older monument from within the UKHMLC
courtyard, or from other points in close proximity to it, its
setting would visually become quickly congested. More
specifically at this point the radically differing aesthetic moods
of existing and proposed structures would collide in uneasy and
discordant juxtaposition. And so here, decisively, the visual
dominance of the UKHMLC would unsettle and crowd the BM,
significantly infringing the viewer’s opportunity to settle and
contemplate its purpose and architecture, and thus fully
13