Boris Watch

Boris speaks:

As I said throughout the campaign I do want to protect the beautiful historic views of London,’ he said. ‘I think it is crazy that there are two sites in London which are under some sort of UNESCO preservation order because they are in danger of salami slicing away the views of the Westminster Palace and the Tower of London.

I’ve got the UNESCO report here, and it does indeed contain criticism of the ‘tall buildings’ policy, in particular the ‘Shard’ at London Bridge, so let’s see if he cans that one.  On Westminster it says:

•    If either a dynamic visual impact study, to facilitate a thorough and rapid assessment of future planning applications, has not been developed by the time the World Heritage Committee meets for its 31st session (June 2007, Christchurch, New Zealand);
•    Or the Management Plan, including a protection of the key views and immediate surroundings of the site through an adequate and commonly agreed buffer zone, has not been finalized by the time the World Heritage Committee meets for its 31st session (June 2007, Christchurch, New Zealand), then the site would meet the criteria for Danger Listing (according to paragraphs 178-182 of the Operational Guidelines).

The recommendations for Westminster include:

4.    Since planning permissions have been granted or are under consideration for several tall buildings, the mission would strongly recommend adhering to the policy of limiting the new development of tall buildings to the financial district, i.e. the City of London.

5.    To review the approved and proposed schemes of “The Three Sisters” adjacent to Waterloo Station (a redevelopment of Elizabeth House in a cluster of 3 tall buildings of 140m), Beetham Tower in Southwark (226m), and Doon Street Tower in Lambeth (168m) in the surroundings of Westminster, including the South Bank, and to adjust them in order to ensure the visual integrity of the World Heritage site.

Hmm.  Boris has canned the Three Sisters, which were horrible looking things.  However:

London Mayor Boris Johnson will not object to the construction of a £200m skyscraper on the South Bank.

The proposed 43-storey Doon Street tower would sit on a site between the Waterloo Bridge and the Oxo Tower, according to the Evening Standard.

Ah, OK.  Not a hard and fast rule, this UNESCO/sight line thing, then.

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