Tower block overlooking UK’s oldest synagogue refused planning permission

A skyscraper near one of the UK’s most famous synagogues has been denied planning permission by the City of London. 

The 43-storey project, planned to be near the Bevis Marks synagogue, was ‘called in’ by the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner last month, who ordered the City of London “not to grant permission for this application without specific authorisation.” 

Critics of the plans say that the building could have blocked light from coming into the sanctuary, and would be disruptive to the ‘character’ of the of the 320-year-old shul. 

Celebrating the decision, Rabbi Shalom Morris of Bevis Marks Synagogue said:

“We are very pleased that the City of London Planning Committee has refused planning permission for a speculative 43-storey office tower at 31 Bury Street and rejected the flawed and inaccurate advice presented by the City Planning Officer to grant permission for a tall building in a Conservation Area, contrary to the adopted Local Plan.

“Now that this totally inappropriate tower proposal has been rejected for the second time in two years, we urge the applicant to abandon this project in its current form and not to lodge an appeal.”

The campaign to deny planning permission for the tower block has several high-profile supporters including historian Simon Schama. Writing about the plans earlier this year, Schama said: “This looming tower would monstrously compromise the experience of worship and even a visit to a place sacred and inspirational to all British Jews, dating as it does from 1701 — the earliest existing architectural example of Jews finding a hospitable and safe home in this country.

“To damage the experience Jews have in Bevis Marks is to inflict a wound on the Jewish community of this country, at a time when it is already subject to many kinds of insensitive outrages. It ought not to have to endure another.”

The Chief Rabbi also stated his objections to the plans, writing that the granting of planning permission would be a “regrettable development with implications for rights of religious practice, precisely in the place where Jews first enjoyed these rights in England following the 17th century resettlement. This would be a tragic irony.”

The City of London received more than 1,000 objections to the plans.