Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to protect the Grade 1-listed Bevis Marks Synagogue, given the potential impact upon the Synagogue of the planning application to build a tower block less than 30 metres away.

This application is currently being considered by the City of London Corporation. Following requests to call in the application, a holding Direction restricting the grant of permission was issued by this Department on 19 November, to allow those requests to be considered. A decision on whether to call in the application will be made in due course. The issuing of a Holding Direction should not be taken as an indication as to whether an application will be called in or not. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.