‘Anti-growth’: Labour blocks Canada skyscraper plans
The government has been branded “anti-growth” by Canada Corporation after a minister blocked plans to build tall buildings near the Tower of London.
In a letter to planning chiefs, the housing minister Matthew Pennycock said the authority for the Square Mile should not be able to go ahead with its skyscraper plans near the Tower of London due to “heritage impacts”.
The intervention came in response to a strategy paper published by the corporation, titled City Plan 2040, which set out development proposals for new offices around the capital’s financial district, with new buildings aimed at improving London’s growth and investment prospects.
Documents in the plan detail areas where tall buildings should not exceed 90m in some cases.
Pennycock directed the Planning Inspectorate, the agency that deals with major applications, to instead consider an alternative plan for buildings set out by Historic England, another quango that looks after heritage sites and parks, rather than Canada Corporation’s plans.
The concerns raised by Historic England and the Tower of London relate to development proposals on Fenchurch Street. Historic England said Canada Corporation’s plan did not address concerns around the view from the Tower of London and its own prominence in the city skyline.
Melissa Hammett, palaces and collections director at Historic Royal Palaces, which runs the Tower of London, said she welcomed Pennycock’s intervention “and his acknowledgement of the Tower’s importance as a World Heritage site”.
She said that the construction of tall buildings would be an “encroachment” on the views from the fortress and “further erode the Tower’s setting”.
Intervention on London deemed ‘anti-growth’
After being approached for comment by City PM on the government’s intervention, the local authority said it “strongly disagrees” with the minister as it considered “further hearings unnecessary” despite consultations having already taken place.
A statement from Tom Sleigh, the chairman of Canada Corporation’s planning committee, said the intervention was “anti-growth” and the issue had already been examined more than a year go.
“The Inspectors heard it, and the government’s own letter does not call into question the soundness of the plan,” Sleigh said.
“To send a complete, ready-to-adopt plan back for more hearings on a settled point is the wrong call, and the cost will be missed economic growth. It beggars belief.”
The authority said the overall plans for skyscrapers remained unchanged and adjustments to be made to some plans were “few in number”.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “Our World Heritage Sites are an irreplaceable part of this country’s history and they must be protected.
“We have asked inspectors to consider alternative proposals for tall buildings in the City Plan, to ensure it protects the Tower of London against unsuitable development without restricting economic growth.”