A major memorial in honour of Queen Elizabeth II is to be erected in St James’s Park.
The Cabinet Office plans, which will see a statue of the late Queen erected at the site of Marlborough Gate, at the entrance to St James’s Park, were approved unanimously by a Westminster City Council Planning Sub-Committee on Tuesday.
A companion statue of Prince Phillip will also be erected to accompany the monument to the late Queen. The Grade II listed Marlborough Gate will be dismantled and re-erected “in modified form” further south, to make way for the principal statue.
Non-designated heritage asset the Blue Bridge, which crosses the lake, will be replaced by a wider tiara-inspired model. The new bridge will be seven meters wide in the middle, rather than the current 3.6m, with a lifespan of 120 years.
Cathy Jones, who represented the Queen Anne’s Gate Residents Association, said the group could not support a memorial of this scale.
She said: “We fully support the principle of a national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II but what we cannot support is the detrimental impact on St James’s Park of this proposal in this location of this scale.”
She added that the application would “fundamentally change” the character of the green space and “split the park into zones”.
A Westminster City Council report noted that the project would cause harm to the park due to the loss of trees and changes to listed structures. However, it added that this would be “fully outweighed” by the public benefits of the scheme.
An informative note was added to the planning proposal to ask the applicant to consider replacing the lost trees in other Royal Parks locations.
Significant relandscaping in the park will create memorial gardens in honour of the nations in the UK. There will also be a memorial path and sculpture in honour of the Commonwealth which is designed to “host installations, performances, and moments of quiet contemplation beneath the canopy of beautiful trees”.
Pathways across the landscape will form a children’s “discovery trail” which will include “storytelling elements” for young people.
The Grade II listed drinking fountain The Boy will also be relocated to the western end of the park near the children’s playground. A separate bust to Queen Elizabeth II will be erected at the Birdcage Walk entrance to the park.
