As the months roll by, and as the park, bathed in Spring sun, is yet again coming alive, green and fresh, more and more people of all generations are out there, enjoying all it has to offer.  Will this be Victoria Tower Gardens' last Spring as a park?

In contrast with this current season’s optimistic promise of renewal, I regret to say that the planning process is dragging out, more than ever.  Only Brexit seems to be equally disconcerting for its confusion and inability to come to a conclusion!  Still, you never know, it might be to our advantage in the long run…

Under normal circumstances, we would have typically expected a decision by now, after 13 weeks. In this case, however, we are being told that the Committee Hearing will most likely happen sometime after June, and possibly even after the summer. The blame supposedly falls on the complexity of this proposal, but also, interestingly, on the scale of our opposition – I have been told that it takes a very long time to read nearly 800 long objections!

In the interim, Save VTG is not idle – it is continuously rallying the existing troops while trying to find new allies and supporters - and preparing itself for battle.  Much as we are heartened by the very high numbers of objections to the planning Consultation - ones that have been posted by so many of you on the Planning portal! - we cannot rest on our laurels.   It is a sign of our achievements that the ‘other side’ has been sufficiently rattled to be now using this extra time to aggressively encourage its natural audience to counter our arguments.  This is happening more and more, with emotional pieces about the importance of building a Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in the UK cropping up under Support on the Portal.

While we can all agree with these points of view, very few of the Support texts address the issue of the WHERE the Memorial and Learning Centre should go.  It is all very generic and vague...and no planning points are usually made at all.  No doubt these mis-guided proponents are not familiar with our wonderful park, and do not know that there are ALTERNATIVE SITES for the Memorial and Learning Centre that would be far more appropriate and beneficial. 

IF YOU HAVEN’T YET DONE SO, we would very much like to urge you to write in to Westminster to Object to the Application.  The link is https://tinyurl.com/SaveVTG and click on Comments, and then click on MAKE A COMMENT.  You will need to register, but in total it should only take 5-10 minutes, depending on the length of your comment.  The most important point to get across is that NOBODY SHOULD BUILD IN A PARK.  Parks are simply too precious.  This development should go to the Imperial War Museum or College Green, to name but two.

Many thanks for your support!