Holocaust memorial costs could hit £150m, warn MPs

FEARS were raised by MPs today that the cost of a Holocaust memorial due to be built next to Parliament have almost tripled.

The monument and learning centre in Victoria Tower Gardens will cost an estimated £137million, up from £50 million when the plan was first announced in 2015.

MPs said that with a contingency fund, increased security and the skyrocketing increase in building work, the project would need about £150 million “most of which is public money”.

The Holocaust Memorial Bill committee also expressed worries about terrorism risks and called on the Government to publish security proposals.

Chairman Tory MP John Stevenson said: “The building of a Holocaust Memorial is an important and sensitive matter... Decision making on such an important national memorial should be clear and transparent.

“A major memorial being built in central London will require security, and the Government needs to come forward with plans for what this will involve.”

Plans for the memorial and learning centre were confirmed as part of the Kings Speech last year.

A promise that the project would go ahead was first made in 2015, but the plan ran into difficulties due to a 1900 law protecting the land.

Planning permission was granted in July 2021 to build on Victoria Tower Gardens. But it was challenged in the High Court by the London Historic Parks and Gardens Trust, which argued against building on the triangular Grade II-listed park.

The Government’s Bill intends to update the legislation to remove the legal obstacles and give permission to use public funding to build and operate the centre.