Veterans' fury as millionaire New Labour power couple lodge plans to build ... trends now
From the window of Room 190 of the Union Jack Club, D-Day veteran Peter Kent can take in all of South London and beyond to the Surrey Hills and Kent Downs.
Since 1976 millions of veterans like him have been coming to this military 'home from home' where they can soak up the finest views of the capital as a small token of their service.
But now a millionaire New Labour darling has lodged plans to build an 'oppressive' 20-storey office block just 15 metres from this refuge for British war heroes.
The project will further enrich Robert Bourne, 73, who partied with Peter Mandelson, is neighbours with Sir Mick Jagger in Chelsea and Phillip Green in Monaco, and was embroiled in a cronyism row with Sir Tony Blair over plans to buy the Millennium Dome in the noughties.
Sketches show how the huge development by Waterloo station will leave the Union Jack Club 'in the shadows', blocking daylight for 60 of the 261 rooms.
Military veterans who are members of the Union Jack Club in Waterloo, south London, are alarmed by plans for a new 20-storey office block
Critics say the proposed new development would block out light in neighbouring properties
Permission has been sought by Grandseal Ltd which is owned by millionaire Robert Bourne, pictured here with his wife Sally Greene at the Old Vic Theatre's summer gala in July 2016
'It's wrong, they ought to leave it be,' says Mr Kent, 98, one of the last survivors of the Normandy landings who has been coming here for over 30 years.
'This is a special place, it should be protected from development like this.'
The navy veteran who skippered a landing craft in June 1944 is not alone.
Garrison Sergeant Major Andrew 'Vern' Stokes, who organised the King's Coronation, gave a rousing speech to Labour-run Lambeth council last October.
He told the planning committee: 'Our people have been to the darkest places and deserve light.
'The UJC is the only charity dedicated to the wellbeing of the enlisted ranks - this isn't a privileged club for officers, it supports those from every walk of background and hardship.'
More than 2,500 people have written to the council objecting to the plans, while only 28 have written in support.
But the local authority, which along with the Greater London Authority stands to gain over £14million in financial obligations and levies from the deal, signalled they would wave it through last October.
D-Day veteran Peter Kent, seen here in one of the rooms at the Union Jack Club in Waterloo, has described it as a 'special place' which should be 'protected'
Peter Kent, pictured during his military days, took part in the Normandy landings in June 1944
The huge new skyscraper would stand just 15m from the Union Jack Club in Waterloo
Garrison Sergeant Major Andrew 'Vern' Stokes, who organised the King's Coronation, told Lambeth Council how veterans going to the Union Jack Club 'deserve light'
Regulars at the club include people who took part in the D-Day landings during the Second World War - British forces are pictured here on Sword beach in Normandy on June 6, 1944
London Mayor Sadiq Khan refused a request to call that decision in for review in February, before Housing Secretary Michael Gove rejected an appeal to central government last week.
It means that unless there is an extraordinary intervention from the Prime
