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Housing secretary claims he ‘inadvertently’ sat next to Westferry Printworks owner at fundraiser
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick “inadvertently” sat next to the landowner of the controversial Westferry Printworks development at a fundraising event last year, MPs have been told.
Today Mr Jenrick faced a series of questions regarding his involvement in the contentious approval of the 1,500-home Isle of Dogs development put forward by Conservative Party donor Richard Desmond.
Asked about revelations that he had sat next to Mr Desmond at a Tory fundraiser, Mr Jenrick said: “My department knew about my attendance at the event… they knew about the fact I had inadvertently sat next to the applicant – I didn’t know who I was going to be seated by until I sat at the table.”
He then repeated the claim made by housing minister Chris Pincher last week that he refused to discuss the application when Mr Desmond brought it up at the fundraiser.
Mr Jenrick also revealed that he has sent information relating to the planning decision to cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill to consider.
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Developer donated £12,000 to Conservative Party two weeks after Jenrick’s ‘biased’ planning approval
Jenrick ‘refused to discuss’ Westferry development with Conservative Party donor at dinner, MPs told“All of the relevant information relating to this matter is with the cabinet secretary and I have taken, and will take again, advice from my permanent secretary about what further documentation we might be able to publish,” he told the House of Commons.
It comes after both Ed Davey, acting co-leader of the Liberal Democrats, and shadow housing and planning minister Mike Amesbury called for Sir Mark to investigate Mr Jenrick’s decision to overrule the local council and his own planning inspector to approve the application.
Mr Jenrick said that it was not unusual for the secretary of state to get involved in individual planning decisions and that he is “confident that all the rules were followed”.
The planning decision has sparked controversy as it was approved by Mr Jenrick one day before Tower Hamlets Council was due to introduce its new Community Infrastructure Levy, which would have cost Mr Desmond’s company Northern & Shell around £40m.
It also emerged last week that just two weeks after planning approval was given, Mr Desmond donated £12,000 to the Conservative Party.
Mr Jenrick signed a consent order last month that admitted unlawful “apparent bias” over the decision.
But as Inside Housing revealed last week, the secretary of state had vowed to challenge any claims of apparent bias when the council launched legal action in March.
