UK OKs controversial plan to build Holocaust museum next to Houses of Parliament

LONDON -- Government approval was given Thursday to a controversial plan for a Holocaust museum next to Britain's Houses of Parliament.

Government planning minister Chris Pincher backed a planning inspector who said the multi-million-dollar scheme for the United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial and Learning Center at Victoria Tower Gardens should go ahead.

The scheme will see the museum on a site close to London's landmark Big Ben clock tower and will involve an underground basement mezzanine in a landscaped area.

Critics of the project have condemned the siting of the museum, next to the Palace of Westminster, home of the Houses of Lords and Commons and close to Westminster Abbey.

In a 14-page ruling, Pincher concluded that the important public benefits of the scheme are sufficient to demonstrably outweigh the identified harm that the proposals have been found to cause.

Save Victoria Tower Gardens, a campaign group, waged a battle against the project, saying while there is undoubtedly a need for Holocaust education, an alternative site should be found, adding that its lawyers are reading the full decision and considering the next steps.