Hard to believe, four long months have gone by since my last update – with so much happening on our planet, and in relation to our cause.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the world as we knew it has been turned on its head, and that our current biggest concern is coming to terms with the huge uncertainty we all face on so many fronts.
In the UK, there is talk of 65,000 people having died as a consequence of the Covid 19 pandemic, a tragedy of such proportions that one struggles to try and even comprehend its magnitude.
What is now clear, however, is that our Government’s response to the pandemic was, amongst other failings, the result of a lethal cocktail of ineptitude, lack of leadership, and inability to learn from others, all leading to an endless string of dreadfully mishandled decisions and disastrous delays, resulting in an unfathomable surge in potentially avoidable deaths.
You will - I expect - be amazed to know that, throughout all of this, the very same Government has been tenaciously hanging on to its obsessive, declared desire to destroy the idyllic Victoria Tower Gardens by transforming it into the site of the proposed Holocaust Memorial and underground Learning Centre.
Despite the great upheaval of the sudden March Lockdown, Save VTG had to push hard to obtain a firm confirmation of deferment of the Public Inquiry and all procedural actions required: un-nerving tactics that were felt to be most unfair, given the unfolding medical horrors preventing our group from meeting - and turning any strategic decision-making into a nightmare.
Four months on, it is incredible to us that, at a time when parks have never been more necessary or sought after, politicians can be so two-faced in relation to sacrificing such a well-used, essential public amenity, when alternative sites could be found. Likewise, at a time in which the Black Lives Matter campaign, and the Windrush scandal are at the forefront of everyone’s minds, it is hard to imagine that the Government does not have the political sense to back off from a scheme that would completely obliterate the visibility and importance of the Buxton Memorial.
Not to mention that the economic disaster wrought upon us by the pandemic has created a huge number of financial black holes that are immensely more deserving of public funds than this unnecessarily extremely expensive Holocaust Memorial.
On the back of all this going on in parallel, we have all been keeping very busy: plotting and scheming, facilitating media coverage, appointing legal counsel…
Our main current news in relation to our fight, however, is that the London Parks and Gardens Trust, supported by Save VTG, has initiated a legal process aiming to start Judicial Review proceedings against the Government, on grounds of Conflict of Interest and Pre-determination. It is our case that the SoS ( currently Robert Jenrick, in the limelight for all the wrong reasons), and anyone reporting to him, or anyone who could be seen to be involved or committed to the Holocaust Memorial project, should not be allowed to decide the fate of this scheme, as compromised by conflict of interest.
As mentioned previously, and as all of you no doubt will know, running a Judicial Review is an expensive affair, even though we have been doing everything possible to mitigate the costs. At the moment the London Parks and Gardens Trust is fundraising via CrowdJustice in order to afford the legal advice required. We have very few days left to meet our target! The link is :
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/victoria-tower-gardens/
Any amount is hugely gratefully received –during the pandemic it has been an impossible time for fund-raising. It is essential to us taking this forward that others should join us in donating to make it all happen. We thank you in advance!
At the moment, but still to be confirmed, the new dates for the Inquiry appear to be the first two weeks of October and the first two weeks of November.