The Act gives the Secretary of State Parliamentary authority to incur expenditure to construct, maintain, operate or improve the Memorial and Learning Centre, in line with the requirements of Chapter 2 of HM Treasury’s document Managing Public Money.
	An application for planning consent was made by the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in December 2018 for a Holocaust Memorial and accompanying underground Learning Centre. Following a public inquiry in 2020, planning consent was granted in July 2021. Subsequently in a statutory review of the planning decision the High Court concluded that certain sections of the London County Council (Improvements) Act 1900 (‘the 1900 Act’) which extended the existing Victoria Tower Gardens southwards and required the Commissioner of Works to maintain the land as a ‘garden open to the public’ were an obstacle to constructing the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in the Gardens. The High Court quashed the decision to grant planning consent 1 .
	This Act means that the relevant sections of the 1900 Act do not constitute an obstacle to construction and operation of the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre.
	The Act does not include planning powers to construct the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre at Victoria Tower Gardens: planning consent will be sought separately through the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
	The Act is a hybrid Act. This means it is of general application, but it contains provisions which have a different legal effect on the private interests of particular persons. In procedural terms, this meant it was considered as a Public Bill, but was treated as similar to a Private Bill during certain stages of its passage through Parliament. The hybrid Bill procedure gives those persons who are directly and specially affected an opportunity to petition against the Bill and to be heard in Select Committee.
	The Holocaust Memorial Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons on 28 June 2023, and was committed to a Select Committee following a motion in the House of Commons the same day. 10 petitions against the Bill were received. The Committee started sitting in January 2024 and concluded hearing petitioners in February 2024. The Committee’s First Special Report, summarising their decisions, can be found here 2 . The Committee did not amend the Bill. The Government’s response to the Report can be found here 3 .
	The Bill was then committed to a Committee of the whole House on 22 May 2024 which made no amendments to the Bill, which then passed Third Reading in the House of Commons the same day. It passed its First Reading in the House of Lords on 23 May 2024 after which those directly and specially affected by the scheme could petition against the Bill until the deadline of 17 July 2024. The Bill was carried over to the new Parliament and reintroduced on 18 July 2024 and had its second reading on 4 September 2024, after which it was committed to a Lords Select Committee.
	In the House of Lords, 18 petitions against the Bill were received. The Committee started sitting in October 2024 and concluded its sittings in December that year, publishing its Special Report on 21 January 2025, which can be found here 4 . The Committee accepted a number of assurances and an undertaking from the Government and made 4 recommendations to Government, but did not amend the Bill. The Government’s response can be found here 5 .
Legal background