We can’t lose another precious park

Your Save Our Parks campaign has highlighted a problem all over the country and even Central London is not immune.

There is a plan for a Holocaust memorial and learning centre which will take up a large proportion of the space in Victoria Tower Gardens, a precious refuge for workers, visitors and residents, bordering the Thames next to Parliament. The memorial will destroy a lot of green space, threaten the plane trees and alter for ever the atmosphere of this park.

The objections are not against a Holocaust memorial in itself, but rather locating it in the park will cause a number of serious problems. And in the light of recent events, security will be a major concern. It will inevitably become a target. Access to a significant part of the park will be restricted at once, and, in time, the whole park will doubtless become a controlled, secure area, so altering its character.

I and many others hope that these plans will not proceed in Victoria Tower Gardens and that a larger site, more acceptable to everyone, can be found.

Patricia Stoughton, London