Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret’s Church

• Interpretative and visitation facilities (Construction proposals in the immediate vicinity of the property that could have an adverse impact on the setting, related vistas and integrity of the property)
• Buildings and Development (Continuous development pressure for high-rise buildings that pose changes to skyline and strong visual impact, whilst there is lack of an in-depth visual impact study on possible impacts of development projects)
• Conservation works (possible impact of the Restoration and Renewal project for the Palace of Westminster)
• Management System/Management Plan (Lack of coordination within the management system, an approved management plan and need for protection of the immediate surroundings of the property through an adequate buffer zone)

N/A

On 30 November 2022, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/426/documents/, and on 15 March 2023, the State Party provided a notification in line with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines, all of which report on the following issues addressed by the Committee at its previous session:

• The recommendations of the 2017 joint ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission are increasingly used. The ICOMOS technical review of the new London Plan and Westminster City Plan of October 2021 is being used to inform the emerging planning policy landscape. The Westminster City Plan (WCP) was reviewed, amended and adopted in 2021 but Westminster City Council is currently partly reviewing it to include site allocations and to apply the new Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessment in a World Heritage Context. The revised plan is expected to be adopted in 2024/2025. The revised Lambeth Local Plan was also adopted in 2021. A draft site allocations document has recently been consulted and work is underway with Historic England to help develop the evidence needed to underpin the proposed allocations;
• The Tall Buildings Policy of the adopted London Plan requires boroughs to proactively plan for tall building developments within their areas and, in accordance with a revised Advice Note on Tall Buildings prepared by Historic England, the cumulative impacts of tall buildings are considered when assessing tall building proposals and plan-making;
• The monitoring provisions in Chapter 12 of the new London Plan (approved in March 2021) were strengthened: A new and enhanced Annual Monitoring Reports (AMR) Framework was approved in May 2022, which includes more granular analysis based upon the number of approved referable applications with identified benefits or harm to heritage assets;
• The ‘Levelling Up and Regeneration’ Bill, anticipated for late summer 2023, aims to introduce a statutory duty for the preservation or enhancement of a wider range of designated heritage assets and their settings, including World Heritage properties. Historic England produced several Advice Notes throughout 2022 to provide guidance on enhanced protection and management of World Heritage. The Management Plan is expected to be ready for public consultation in Spring 2023, and at this time, will be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review;
• A description of the database for tall buildings and the use of this data for 3D models is provided, which includes reference to guidance tools on how 3D mapping software can contribute to safeguard local area character and heritage assets, and initiatives of the Greater London Authority (GLA) in collaboration with the London boroughs;
• Updates on the Restoration and Renewal (R&R) project, overseeing the major refurbishment of the Palace of Westminster, are provided, but the project is not yet fully scoped to enable Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA). The work on the detailed Conservation Plan for the Palace of Westminster has progressed separately to the R&R project, and a summary report has been provided. Essential works on the Palace, consisting of mostly restoration and repair works, have nonetheless continued. The Parliament Square Streetscape Project is a concept proposal to improve the security, safety and public space in and around Parliament Square;
• The High Court quashed the planning decision for the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre based on Act 1900 that imposed an obligation to maintain Victoria Tower Gardens as a public garden;
• The London Urban Archaeological Database Project has mapped expected survival of archaeological remains within in the medieval core of Westminster and Whitehall.

The State Party continues its efforts to improve policy and planning processes to enhance the protection of the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, including through the implementation of the 2017 joint ICOMOS/ICCROM Reactive Monitoring mission recommendations and consideration of the recommendations provided through ICOMOS technical reviews. The amendments to Chapter 12 of the new London Plan to strengthen monitoring provisions through a new AMR Framework are acknowledged, as is the Tall Buildings Policy. It would be appropriate for the new AMR Framework and the first new AMR (no. 19), due in early 2023, to be submitted to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies. The Westminster City Plan has also undergone revisions in line with the request of the Committee. The planned analysis of site allocations to identify where potential development may impact on the OUV of the property and the intention to conduct HIAs in accordance with the new Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context are welcome. There is progress towards improving the legal framework for heritage conservation through the ‘Levelling Up and Regeneration’ Bill. The World Heritage Centre should be kept informed of its status as it progresses towards approval/adoption, including its implications for World Heritage protection. The progress towards finalizing the Management Plan is acknowledged and the State Party should be requested to submit it to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies prior to adoption.

ICOMOS provided technical reviews for the planning applications of the Evelina Children’s Hospital extension of the Saint Thomas’ Hospital in August 2022 and for the Royal Street Site in September 2022, both of which are located within the setting south of the World Heritage property in the Borough of Lambeth. The ICOMOS reviews aligned with Historic England’s concerns that the impact of these developments was highly adverse, and that the urban ensemble of the South Bank of the Thames had reached a critical point. These development proposals have not been accompanied by detailed HIAs and deviate from key local plan policies. The State Party should therefore be urged not to grant any planning permissions for those two projects.

The continued efforts by GLA to build a free, open data-sharing portal (‘The London Datahub’) of development proposals in the planning process, a collaborative project between all the Planning Authorities in London, and the database for tall buildings and 3D modelling in development proposals are to be commended. The State Party should actively use these tools for long-term planning and management of the property, including for the identification of site allocations to the south of the property in its immediate setting and for cases such as Evelina Children’s Hospital or Royal Street Site projects.

The updates on the R&R project are noted, including the submission of the summary Palace of Westminster Conservation Management Plan. The essential repair and conservation is continuing in the Palace in accordance with the “Mechanical, Electrical, Public Health and Fabric Safety Programme”, and the need for ongoing HIA is highlighted, including for the Victoria Tower Project and the current phase of the Cast Iron Roofs Project. The State Party should be requested to submit details of the proposed Parliament Square Streetscape Project to the World Heritage Centre at an early stage, if the project proceeds beyond the concept stage.

For the proposed Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre, the State Party has recently introduced a new Bill to override the obstacles included in the 1900 Act that led the High Court to quash the current decision on the proposed construction of the memorial. If the Bill is passed, the statutory obstacle would be removed for a new planning decision to be taken in regard to the current proposal. The Committee has already expressed concern on two occasions about the negative impact that this major project would have on the OUV of the property, given its location against the main tower of the Palace of Westminster, and has requested consideration of alternative locations and/or designs, neither of which have been addressed.