Community
Community urged to object to 45-storey tower planned near Bevis Marks
The building is the country’s oldest synagogue
March 27, 2024 18:29
The building is the country’s oldest synagogue
March 27, 2024 18:29The S & P Sephardi Community has urged members to act to avert what it considers a fresh threat its oldest synagogue, Bevis Marks.
Developers have submitted an application for a 45-storey tower in nearby Bury Street, which supporters of the synagogue fear could starve the historic, 300-year-old building of sunlight.
A 48-storey development on the same site was rejected by the City of London Corporation in 2021.
In a letter to members, the SPSC said if the new building was approved, “it would have a disastrous impact on Bevis Marks Synagogue as a living Jewish congregation.
“We therefore need to you to strongly object, and to do so without delay.”
The SPSC believed that the synagogue would have secured protection against tall developments when the City of London agreed to a conservation area in the neighbourhood.
But it told members: “Despite our successfully achieving a conservation area around Bevis Marks Synagogue just a few months ago, the City of London has now undermined our efforts and changed the goalposts which previously barred tall buildings in these protected areas.”
It said the new application — which envisages a basement, ground floor and 43 storeys above — offered a “negligible change” from the one previously turned down, the SPSC said.
The application is yet to be validated by the corporation — that is cleared for consideration by the relevant committee.