In his speech made yesterday at the 'New Buildings in Historic Places' forum, Prince Charles criticised the present construction "free-for-all," especially around the World Heritage Sites of the Tower of London, St Paul's and the Palace of Westminster.

He also attacked planners for preparing to allow a rash of tall buildings to "vandalise" the historic cities of London, Edinburgh and Bath.

Prince Charles contrasted the protection of the historic skyline in Paris, where tall buildings were allowed only around La Défense, and London where commercial pressures and the need to build 3 million more homes meant tall buildings were encroaching into historic areas and not areas suitable for them such as Canary Wharf.

In his keynote address Charles said: "For some unaccountable reason we seem to be determined to vandalise these few remaining sites which retain the kind of human scale and timeless character that so attract people to them and which increase in value as time goes by."

 The Prince highlighted the case of the German capital Berlin where the authorities have imposed restrictions on the heights of new buildings.

He said this kind of approach: "Can help to achieve a far more coherent sense of harmony and civic self confidence than the alternative 'free-for-all" that will leave London and our other cities with a pockmarked skyline."