alt Hacker NewsNot only that, but construction in general operated in a far different regulatory environment.
Imagine King Charles today proposing a 990 000 square foot structure in Hyde Park. Get Design. Build structure. How hard could it be?
Today there are more voices. Queen Victoria simply decreed, and it was done. Today building the structure would be fast. Getting permission to build it would take decades (even for the King) and cost a fortune.
Savehydepark.com would be a domain in seconds.
The mulberry harbours were built in a day with scant regard to the views of the locals.
Replies
> Queen Victoria simply decreed, and it was done
People seem to get incredibly confused about British constitutional history… No she didn’t, don’t be silly, she wasn’t a dictator. About the only European monarch who could got around decreeing stuff left right and center in this period was the Russian tsar; there just weren’t that many absolute monarchs left.
You’re correct that they didn’t have, like, modern planning law, but it was nothing to do with Victoria.
>Opponents of the scheme lobbied strenuously against the use of Hyde Park (and they were strongly supported by The Times). The most outspoken critic was Charles Sibthorp; he denounced the exhibition as "one of the greatest humbugs, frauds and absurdities ever known"
(reaction from 1851, wikipedia)
> The mulberry harbours were built in a day with scant regard to the views of the locals.
One lasted just weeks before it was destroyed in a storm. The other did better, and was used for 10 months.
> Savehydepark.com would be a domain in seconds
Right... https://www.savewimbledonpark.org/
We retain the capacity in the UK to do just that.
Parliament sits above the courts as effectively the Supreme Court of the UK, where everybody's interests are notionally represented (the current mis-named 'supreme court' is really just the Court of the United Kingdom). The King, via the Ministers of the Crown, could propose a building as a Bill in Parliament. If Parliament then passes that as an Act, then it will happen and nothing can stop it from happening. Including using the Army to detain and remove protestors if necessary. All it needs is the relevant sections in the Act.
Recovering this power is why Brexit was so important. With it we can build the green infrastructure we need as we built the railways - via dictatorial Acts of Parliament that brook no opposition.
Now all we need are MPs prepared to use that power to save us from oblivion.
Victoria didn't decree anything. There was a commission set up by the government a year or two before the Great Exhibition to oversee things and the purchasing of land and funding for construction was subject to parliamentary debate and approval.
Your comment about the Mulberry harbours is quite baffling. Are you seriously suggesting that a modern day military operation on the scale of Overlord would be subject to local consultations?