Planning reforms out of Jenrick’s hands
Conservative HQ told to explain why Housing Secretary was exposed to tycoon’s lobbying
By Gordon Rayner and Harry Yorke RADICAL planning reforms that would have put extra powers in the hands of Robert Jenrick have been put on hold amid the lobbying controversy surrounding the Housing Secretary.
The Daily Telegraph understands that the Government was considering moving responsibility for some major developments from councils to the Housing Secretary.
Ministers believed the Prime Minister would include the proposals in a white paper later this year, and had expected him to reference them in a major speech next week on rebuilding Britain after the coronavirus downturn.
However, after days of revelations about Mr Jenrick’s relationship with the property developer and Tory donor Richard Desmond, No10 said the proposals would not be in the speech and are “not our policy”.
Downing Street denied last night that there was any link between the Desmond controversy and the decision not to take the proposals forward.
Multiple sources told The Daily Telegraph that government planning advisers had advocated a system of development corporations, which would be set up by the Housing Secretary and would have the power to take decisions on planning that would normally be taken by local authorities.
The development corporations would be able to buy land with taxpayers’ money, grant planning permission to build on it, then sell the land to developers at a profit. All money raised would be used for public benefit by building schools, roads or other infrastructure. The development corporation would also have control over what developers could and could not build. It would have given the Housing Secretary huge power because it effectively bypasses councils. However, No 10 sources said it would not happen.
Boris Johnson had also studied plans to make it easier for the Government to redesignate green belt land for development. Building on green belt could help the Prime Minister hit his target of 300,000 new homes a year, but moves to allow building on green belt have proved unpopular with grassroots Tories, and Downing Street said this, too, was now “not policy” and would not be in his speech. A Downing Street source denied the proposals had been considered by No10 and said: “These claims are untrue.”
RICHARD DESMOND is understood to have asked to be sat next to Robert Jenrick at a Tory fundraising dinner, raising serious questions over why Conservative HQ exposed the Housing Secretary to Mr Desmond’s lobbying
for a £1billion development.
Mr Jenrick is facing calls to quit from senior Tory backbenchers who said the “cash for favours” row was “damaging to the party”.
A source inside Tory headquarters claimed that Mr Desmond paid for a table and is thought to have requested to be seated next to Mr Jenrick at the Conservative fundraising event at the Savoy hotel in November at which Boris Johnson was the guest speaker.
Former Cabinet ministers said it was common practice to attend such events without knowing what table you were being placed on.
Less than a month before the dinner, Tower Hamlets council had ruled against Mr Desmond’s planning application for 1,500 new homes in east London, leaving the final decision with the Secretary of State.
Documents published on Wednesday evening revealed that after the dinner Mr Jenrick rushed through Mr
Desmond’s Westferry project after the pair exchanged text messages. The Housing Secretary gave the green light to the £1billion development after receiving a text message from the Tory Party donor telling him that delays would “cost £45million”. Two weeks after it was approved, Mr Desmond donated £12,000 to the Conservative Party.
A well-placed source said: “The seating plan is run by the treasurers’ department within Conservative HQ. The people who buy the tables make a direct request for who they want to be sat on their table and obviously Richard Desmond has asked for Jenrick. I suspect Jenrick would have been sat at the table without any knowledge. I doubt Robert Jenrick would have been the most in-demand minister for anybody buying a table.”
Mr Desmond, who made his fortune through pornography and went on to own the Express newspapers before selling them recently, declined to respond last night.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “Seating plans for Conservative Party fundraising events are determined by CCHQ, not donors.”
The Carlton Political Dinner is one of the fundraising highlights of the Conservative Party calendar and as well as Mr Johnson, a number of Cabinet ministers attended, including Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, and Sajid Javid, then chancellor.
One former Tory Cabinet minister said: “The way these dinners are organised, if you’re a Cabinet minister, you turn up and find out where you are. You’re there to slightly sing for your supper, I guess, so I’m not surprised. And I have to say, if true, CCHQ have been quite unwise to do that, to put it mildly.”
Mr Jenrick has insisted he “was not aware of seating plans, or the developer’s attendance” and that had he known that, he “would have been clearer from the start that I would not discuss the live case at the dinner”.
Downing Street said yesterday that the Housing Secretary maintained the Prime Minister’s “full support” and that after documentation relating to the Westferry Printworks development was published he considered the matter “closed”.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said Downing St had not intervened in the appeal but failed to rule out the possibility that discussions were held
‘If you’re a Cabinet minister, you turn up and find out where you are. You’re there to sing for your supper’
about the original application and was unable to say whether Sir Edward Lister, Mr Johnson’s chief of staff, had spoken to Mr Desmond in the past year.
Tory backbenchers said they believed Mr Jenrick should quit “as a matter of honour” and have asked party whips to convey their unhappiness to No 10.
One senior Tory said: “People are very uncomfortable about the situation.
“He should have recused himself from this planning decision and most ministers would have gone by now if this sort of thing happened. Robert should have resigned as a matter of honour. But Robert is being protected by No 10 and Dominic Cummings because he is close to Boris.”
Few senior Tories turned out to back Mr Jenrick when he appeared in Parliament yesterday, and support for him outside Downing Street is patchy.
Another prominent Tory backbencher said: “When you read the texts and the emails that were published on Thursday it doesn’t look good.”
Nadhim Zahawi, a Tory minister, provoked ridicule when he tried to defend Mr Jenrick yesterday.
When asked by the BBC what “red wall” voters would make of the billionaire receiving special access, Mr Zahawi
‘When you read the texts and the emails that were published on Thursday it doesn’t look good’
said: “If people go to a fundraiser in their local area, Doncaster, for the Conservative Party, they’ll be sitting next to MPS, other people in their local authority. They can interact with different parts of the authority. The access didn’t buy this billionaire a decision.”