Skyscraper plan casts dark shadow over veterans’ club

VETERANS will have their sweeping views of London blocked by a 20-storey building, under plans proposed by a millionaire New Labour donor.

Waterloo Central, a new skyscraper near to London Waterloo rail station, would tower just 15 metres away from the Union Jack Club (UJC), which provides hospitality and accommodation for serving and former rank-and-file members of the Armed Forces.

The new development is the brainchild of Robert Bourne, 73, who financially backed Sir Tony Blair and previously threw a birthday party for Peter Mandelson, the former prime minister’s aide. It is on the brink of becoming a reality, with the Labour-run Lambeth council expected to formally approve the planning application within days after Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, and Michael Gove, the Secretary of State, refused to block it.

Hundreds of military families have complained that it would blight the landscape for UJC, a charity founded in 1904 to provide those below commissioned rank with a retreat in the capital.

It is claimed that the building would block sunlight for 60 of the 261 rooms at the club and ruin some of its tranquil views out towards the Surrey Hills. Sergeant Major Vern Stokes OBE, who helped organise King Charles’s Coronation, said that the British war heroes who visit the club “do not deserve to exist in the shadows”.

“Service separated families visit for a safe environment, War Widow(er)s to find comfort, the wounded, sick and injured for support and the veterans for camaraderie,” he told Lambeth’s planning committee in October. “Our people have been to the darkest places and deserve light.”

He accused the authority of taking “a step backwards” from the Armed Forces Covenant signed in November 2013, ensuring that their sacrifice of a normal family life is rewarded by society.

More than 2,500 people, mainly from among UJC’S 45,000 members, have written to the council objecting to the plans, while 28 have written in support.

Shane Cooper, from Nottingham, who was in the Royal Army Medical Corps for 12 years, told The Telegraph: “This is totally appalling, to build such a structure next to a place where those still and retired from serving their country come to rest, relax and recover is a great insult to them and those who have gone before them.”

Lambeth Council said its planning committee “very carefully considered all concerns”. “The proposal would create an estimated additional 1,900 new jobs by providing office floorspace.”