Former Prime Minister David Cameron has issued a staunch defence of the decision to build a Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Westminster, saying the location is “symbolically important.”
Speaking out the public inquiry into the proposed project on Tuesday, Mr Cameron said: “I would say it is not just functionally important that the memorial and learning centre are in this location, but I think it is also symbolically important.
“The location next to our Parliament, which is such a symbol of our nationhood, makes a statement that is a permanent affirmation of the values of our society, about tolerance and diversity.”
Opponents of the project location in Victoria Tower Gardens, a small, triangular, Grade II listed park next to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, have argued that the decision to build there is flawed.
In February this year, Westminster City Council’s planning committee voted unanimously to reject the application for it to be built at the park, saying it contravened planning rules on size, design and location.
But recalling his 2015 decision to a set up the memorial project, the former Tory leader added he made the decision “to remember the past and to make sure we safeguard the future”.
Mr Cameron also stressed the initiative was a cross-party political effort, backed by every living PM and the current leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer.
Mr Cameron said the site next to Parliament was “symbolically” important.
He said: “I would say it is not just functionally important that the memorial and learning centre are in this location, but I think it is also symbolically important.
“The location next to our Parliament, which is such a symbol of our nationhood, makes a statement that is a permanent affirmation of the values of our society, about tolerance and diversity.”
The chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust also explained her support for the project at Tuesday’s session of the inquiry.
Karen Pollock CBE praised the role played by the survivors in telling the story of the Holocaust up until today.
But she added: “The Holocaust is part of our nation’s story. After all, it is still in living memory.
“But in another 10 or 25 years – when we mark 85 or 100 years since the end of the Second World War – how will this nation remember? Will there be eyewitnesses to tell us what happened?
“When we can no longer hear the testimonies from the eyewitnesses, when we can no longer be awestruck as they tell their unimaginable stories of survival, when we can no longer almost touch history, how will we ensure that this stain on world history, this seminal moment in British history is remembered and learned about? How will we ensure that the experiences of those survivors – who despite all they had endured made a life here, became part of the very fabric of this nation – live on?
“The answer of course – and the reason I am speaking to you today – is Britain’s Holocaust memorial and Learning Centre, to be built right at the heart of our democracy, in the centre of our capital city, next to our Parliament that made decisions that shaped the Second World War. A Memorial and Learning Centre that will take a central place in our city – a place to pause, reflect, and challenge - for generations to come.”
The Memorial and Learning Centre’s design features 23 large bronze fin structures that visitors will be able to walk among, as well as an underground learning centre.
Architects working on the project, led by Sir David Adjaye, have said they were aiming to ensure 90 per cent of the original park is retained.
The final decision on the matter is to be made by Christopher Pincher, Housing Minister at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government later this month.
