Ministers urged to rethink site of Holocaust memorial and learning centre in central London, citing ‘real security threat’

A long-delayed memorial to the Holocaust should be built at the Imperial War Museum rather than next to Parliament, ministers were urged last night.

Conservative Lord Black of Brentwood told the House of Lords that ‘virtually everything is wrong’ with the Government-backed plan to put the memorial and learning centre in Victoria Tower Gardens.

He said the proposed site posed a ‘real security threat’ while the design was ‘dreadful’ and there was a ‘lack of space’ for the education centre. 

He also warned there was a £100million black hole for the plan, proposed in 2015 to honour the six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany but which has been held up by planning disputes ever since.

An artist’s impression issued by the UK Holocaust Memorial showing the park view of the proposed Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London

The Government planned to put the memorial and learning centre in Victoria Tower Gardens (pictured)

Lord Black said the proposed site posed a ‘real security threat’ while the design was ‘dreadful’ and there was a ‘lack of space’ for the education centre

The peer said the memorial, being built by a charitable trust with Government backing, should instead be housed at the Imperial War Museum, within the grounds of the Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park in Kennington. 

He pointed out that it has held the national collection for the Holocaust since 2000 and in 2021 opened ‘exceptional’ new galleries dedicated to the subject which have already been visited by 1.2million people. 

He asked: ‘Why on earth would we want to build another memorial and a learning centre, which will inevitably be inferior to that offered by the IWM, when we already have the resources there and… space to build a fitting, dignified memorial without the terrible disruption and risk of shoe-horning it into Victoria Tower Gardens?’

He added: ‘That site has everything Victoria Tower ­Gardens does not.

‘It is accessible. It is safe. It has history. It has potential.’