PALUMBO STUMPED
THERE is a fine but significant difference between a vexatious litigant and one who is prepared to pursue every legal avenue to achieve a just cause. Mr Marcus Binney, the President of Save Britain's Heritage, belongs in the latter category, for his challenge to the legality of the public inquiry decision by Mr Nicholas Ridley as Secretary of State for the Environment concerning the demolition of eight listed buildings by the Mansion House has now been upheld by the Court of Appeal. The Government's decision in favour of Mr Peter Palumbo's redevelopment scheme was disturbing, as it overturned the con- ventional predisposition in favour of the retention of listed buildings on the unpre- cedented grounds of the superior architectural quality of the proposed re- placement building designed by James Stirling. By continuing the fight against what must have seemed hopeless odds in taking his challenge first to the House of Lords and then to the Court of Appeal, Mr Binney has performed a signal public service and deserves congratulation. In truth the vexatious party has always been Mr Palumbo, in his obsessive determina- tion to build on a peculiarly sensitive and important site in the City of London.
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