To counter some of the opinion expressed in the mainstream media that challenge the proposed plans for decant and renewal of the Houses of Parliament, journalist Tony Grew has written in favour of Restoration and Renewal (R&R) in The House.
image: Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament
Tony Grew writes:
… For some, restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster is an unwelcome, almost impertinent, interruption in their way of life and must therefore be resisted. However, those people are as wrong as they are reactionary. The publication of the plans for the Northern Estate was another sign of hope and renewal, and for those of us committed to the rescue and restoration of our country’s finest built icon it was exciting too.
Congratulations to all those involved, for thinking big, for rising to the scale of the project and for endeavouring to keep the whole Commons family together while the Palace undergoes its much-needed refurbishment. The plans for the new ‘temporary’ chamber and the new building to house MPs and their staff have been well-received by most Westminster villagers. Its vision of the future bodes well for the whole R&R project.
Parliamentarians have been slow enough getting here. David Cameron was mid-coalition when the Restoration and Renewal Programme was established seven years ago to examine options. It took another four years before a committee concluded that the ‘lowest risk, most cost-effective and quickest option to undertake the essential works would be for all Members and staff to move out of the Palace temporarily in one single phase while works take place’. There were noises off, there was an election, there was endless foot dragging. The Commons narrowly voted to support the plan…
In that time, the Palace continued deteriorating faster than it could be repaired. After all that talk, finally we have a plan of action. Let’s not kid ourselves it will be easy. But the document published last week warns again that the longer this essential work is left, the greater the risk that it will suffer a sudden failure that makes it uninhabitable and brings a sudden stop to the work of Parliament. We are therefore about to embark on ‘the biggest and most complex renovation programme of any single building this country has known’.
… The pace of social, political and technological change in our society makes it particularly hard to future proof the ‘temporary’ arrangements, never mind preparing for what the country and the world will look like when the Commons moves back into the Palace in the mid-2030s. Today we are all on mobile devices that need to be plugged in. By then we may have no need of chargers, or even the devices we plug into them.
This is the challenge facing the Delivery Authority – how to keep pace with progress. When Archie Mountbatten-Windsor is a troubled teen – and we already look forward with anticipation to reading all about his antics in whatever the Daily Mail has evolved into by that point – there could be as many female MPs as there are male. There is a strong likelihood that men will be in the minority. We know nothing about what sort of politics they will espouse, what parties they will represent, what vision of the country they want to pursue. Ignore the gloom merchants of today. Restoration and renewal is good for all of us, a national project of international significance. If we get it right, the world will applaud. Here’s to the House of Commons, 2035.
