TOWERING SCANDAL
Boris, the billionaire and a £120m property deal fast becoming a
four years ago and completed his withdrawal from the adult entertainment market.
There was fierce opposition to the Westferry scheme from the start, with new mayor Sadiq Khan raising concerns about the impact on the area’s stretched local transport network, London City airport objecting to the height of the tallest towers (not far from flight paths), and councillors demanding more affordable homes.
Only 21 per cent of the development would have been affordable housing, significantly below the 35 per cent typically required.
Financial documents submitted as part of the planning process suggested the cheapest one-bed flats could be sold for around £480,000 while the most expensive four-bed penthouses atop the tallest tower could fetch £2.4 million.
It couldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone, least of all
Desmond, that Tower Hamlets failed to approve the project.
He appealed. A planning inspector, as we know, dismissed his appeal. What couldn’t have been predicted was Robert Jenrick’s decision. Jenrick, who was made Housing Secretary in July last year, ignored the advice of the planning inspector.
The timing, many might think, looks incriminating. On January 14, Jenrick gave the go-head. On January 15, the new community levy came into force. On January 28, Desmond made his £12,000 donation to the Conservative party. A decade ago when Richard Desmond bought Channel 5 (since sold again), it was said his executives were forced to sing We’ve Only Just Begun by the Carpenters.
They must have been singing the same song in the Northern & Shell boardroom on January 14. The celebrations did not last long.
In March, Tower Hamlets launched a legal challenge against Robert Jenrick’s decision on the basis it had been ‘influenced by a desire to help the developer to avoid a financial liability’ (the community levy).
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government rejected the suggestion ‘there was any actual bias [as opposed to apparent bias] but said the application would be ‘redetermined’. The row has led to familiar cries that the Tories are ‘out of touch’ with ordinary people.
Robert Jenrick has experienced such criticism when he became MP for Newark in Nottinghamshire in 2014. The rival Ukip candidate asked how voters in the constituency could relate to a man who, at the time, reportedly had three homes worth £5 million.
Mr Jenrick pointed out that his grammar school education was proof that he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. ‘None of it was inherited or handed on a plate to us,’ he said at the time. ‘My wife [a corporate lawyer] and I have both worked jolly hard.’
But recent events have upset members of his own party.
Tower Hamlets councillor Andrew Wood quit the Conservative party in February after the Westferry development was approved. ‘I have lost confidence in the ability of the Conservative party as an institution to make good use of the power it has now,’ he wrote in his resignation letter.
Last night, he spoke more about his decision.
‘Westferry Printworks is a political scandal,’ he said. ‘I have huge concerns about a Government minister attending a fundraising dinner with a developer five weeks in advance of granting his scheme planning permission, as well as the developer making a donation.
‘The minister, Robert Jenrick, went against the wishes of his own planning inspector, the local council and the Greater London Authority. He also accepted the developer dropping the affordable housing from 35 per cent down to 21 per cent.
‘The Cabinet Office and the House of Commons Select Committee now need to investigate.
‘The minister needs to release all the relevant documents and declare other meetings or donations. I believe there is something missing from this story to explain why he made the decision that he did, which is why I resigned from the Conservative party.’
Might the reason be that the Prime Minister had opened the door to Richard Desmond and his plans for the Westferry Printworks in the first place?
‘Minister needs to release all the documents’