Westminster city council and English Heritage have issued an application for a judicial review into a planning proposal for Elizabeth House in Waterloo, SE1.
The pair argue that the plans put forward by Sir Stuart Lipton’s Chelsfield would cause substantial harm to the setting of the Palace of Westminster, which together with Westminster Abbey forms a World Heritage Site.
Lambeth council approved plans to build an office and residential block measuring up to 29 stories high at Elizabeth House in last November.
Westminster, English Heritage and others requested that the application should go to a public inquiry and then be decided by the secretary of state. The secretary of state decided not to call the matter in for his own determination in March.
Councillor Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster city council, said: “We would not challenge the government unless we thought this was a major issue. We have to act now or face losing the unique vista of one of Britain’s most important historical sites, which is photographed by millions of visitors every year.
“UNESCO may put the area around Parliament Square on its endangered list – the government needs to rethink before it is too late and we need to have an open debate in public on this issue.”
Rosemarie MacQueen, Westminster city council’s strategic director for the built environment, said: “At the very least, there should have been a public inquiry into this application, as Westminster’s heritage is important to the entire nation.
“However, after receiving the minister’s letter outlining that the development would go ahead even without support from important heritage groups, all we are left with is a judicial review and to go through the court process.”
Annabel.Dixon@estatesgazette.com
