London rejects plan to relocate Chinese embassy

Security concerns cited against application for site near Tower of London

A local council has rejected a planning application to relocate the Chinese embassy to a historic site in East London near the Tower of London.

Chinese officials had been seeking to move the embassy from Portland Place in central London to a site that was once home of the Royal Mint, close to London landmarks Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

The strategic development committee of Tower Hamlets Borough Council, which oversees the area, voted 7-0, with one abstention, to reject the application to redevelop a two-hectare site on Royal Mint Court and turn it into an embassy in Whitechapel. The decision can be appealed.

In rejecting the application, councillors cited concerns about safety and security for local residents, traffic congestion, strained police resources and the potential effects on historic assets and the area’s appeal as a tourist destination. The Tower of London is a Unesco World Heritage site.

The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Thursday.

The application had sought to refurbish the Grade II-listed historic Johnson Smirke building and the partial demolition and remodelling of the Grade II-listed Seaman’s Registry building, as well as alterations to two other buildings on the site. Those structures have not been in use for about a decade.

The remodelled buildings would include an Embassy House providing housing for about 200 staff and a cultural exchange centre for embassy events.

The committee had received more than 50 letters of objection from the local community, raising concerns ranging from the site potentially becoming a “terrorist target” to protests around the embassy having a “huge impact” on the area.

Residents who live in the flats on the site also raised concerns Chinese officials might be able to enter their homes or ban flags or posters from being displayed outside their homes under leaseholder agreements for the properties.

In Britain, leaseholder agreements that can run a century or longer are often made for properties being built, while the underlying land is still owned by someone else, a so-called freeholder. Delancey, a property development company, bought the freehold from the Crown Estate in 2010 and sold it to the Chinese government eight years later.

Separately, Jane Scott, a junior minister in the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said in a written response to Parliament this week that the British government was considering whether to “call in”, or review, the relocation request.

The government has used its call-in powers to block several deals by Chinese companies this year on national security grounds.

The debate over the embassy’s new location comes as SinoBritish relations have become increasingly strained over issues ranging from alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to security concerns.

In a speech on Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the so-called golden era of relations with China was over.

The Foreign Office summoned the Chinese ambassador this week over the treatment of a BBC cameraman during antilockdown protests in Shanghai.

British politicians also have called for the expulsion of Chinese officials over a confrontation between protesters and officials at China’s consulate general in Manchester in October.

The first coins were produced in 1810 by the Royal Mint, which stopped making coins at the site in 1975.

The Johnson Smirke building was home to Barclays’ executive board from 1988 until January 2000. It was later sold to the Chinese embassy.