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Some Londoners simply don't want a huge £100 million memorial to the Holocaust to be built in a park right next to the Houses of Parliament.

The monument is due to be placed in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Palace of Westminster to show a great emblem of democracy compared to a symbol of what can happen when democracy doesn't exist.

The design features tall bronze fins, with the spaces in between representing the countries where Jewish people were targeted during the Holocaust.

But Save Victoria Tower Gardens campaigners say that while they are not against the plans for London to host the holocaust memorial and learning centre, they worry it will cost the City a rare inner-city green space.

The UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation however says the project's proposed location reaffirms Britain's commitment to stamp out antisemitism and uphold democratic values.

(Image: Hayes Davidson)

The site in Parliament's footprint was chosen as it sets "history’s worst example of the disintegration of democratic values against the greatest emblem of Britain’s aspirations for democracy."

But Save Victoria Tower Gardens campaigner Clare Annamalai said the project would have fared better if the public had been consulted first on a list of potential sites.

(Image: Hayes Davidson)

"I think this project is quite rightly needed to present the importance of democracy and how easily it can be subverted," she said. "The irony of it, I think, is the way they have proceeded with this is the very opposite of that.”

A planning application is yet to be lodged with Westminster City Council.

Miss Annamalai said the proposal contravened both the council's regulations on the protection of urban green space, and its rules on monument saturation around Parliament.

Miss Annamalai said the nature of activities on the Royal Parks site could mean it clashed inappropriately with a monument people would visit to grieve.

"People visit the site for peaceful reflection and there will be children right next to them, and dogs and picnickers," she added.

(Image: Save Victoria Tower Gardens Campaign)

A petition calling for the memorial to be scrapped had gathered more than 10,000 signatures by December.

The campaigners say the garden should be protected as an inner city park, saying it is the only one beside the Thames in central London, and one beloved by office workers, local residents and tourists already.

The design competition brief said the memorial and learning centre was aimed to attract one million visitors a year, which the campaigners say will cause traffic issues, and transform its use into a "civic space."

They have suggested alternative sites for the memorial and learning centre, such as nearby College Green.

The Imperial War Museum, which has its own Holocaust exhibition opening in 2021, this month dropped its opposition to the memorial project as visitors to the proposed garden site will be encouraged to explore its galleries too.

Miss Annamalai said the planning committee would have to make a tough call on the proposal, knowing it had received endorsement from the highest levels.

(Image: Copyright Unknown)

It had backing from communities secretary James Brokenshire, Lord Eric Pickles, former Labour MP Ed Balls and chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

She said campaigners viewed Westminster councillors' recent rejection of a proposal for a second effigy of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst near Parliament grounds on the grounds of monument over-saturation as a positive test case.

A project team led by well-known architect Sir David Adjaye, along with Ron Arad Architects and landscape designers Gustafson Porter + Bowman won the competition to create the memorial and learning centre concept.

Adjaye Associates was contacted for comment.