Robert Jenrick says decision to save developer £40m was ‘perfectly fair’
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has defended his controversial decision to approve a 1500-home housing development a day before taxes would have cost the developer £40m as “perfectly fair”.
The housing secretary has come under fire for alleged links with the developer, and Tory donor, Richard Desmond, with Labour calling the saga an example of “cash for favours” – an allegation Jenrick strenuously denies.
Jenrick took the planning decision for the East London Westferry development away from the Tower Hamlets Council last year, after its inspector said the project should not go ahead.
He then approved the project shortly after sitting next to Desmond at a Conservative party dinner, with the developer then donating thousands of pounds to the Tories days later.
Jenrick eventually was forced to overturn his own decision on grounds of “apparent bias”, but he maintains there was no intentional preferable treatment given to Desmond.
Desmond would have escaped having to pay an estimated £40m in extra taxes from Tower Hamlets as Jenrick approved the development just one day before a new council levy was to come in place.
The housing secretary told the House of Common’s housing committee today that the decision to save Desmond millions of pounds was perfectly reasonable as new taxes could have put the project’s profitability in question.
“It was consistent with our policy and previous decisions…which show it is a material and legitimate decision to try, if one can, to make a decision before a material change in circumstance might occur,” he said.
“The inspector’s report also restated the point that the viability of the project might be compromised if the community infrastructure levy were to come in.
“The developer in their submission to the planning inspector had made that point as well.”
Jenrick has come under fire over the past six weeks during the saga, with a slow drip of information appearing to show he may have had extensive contact with the developer before making the decision.
This includes a series of text messages after they met at the Tory party dinner in December.
Shadow communities secretary Steve Reed said last month that the decision had “blown apart confidence in the planning system” and that it was an example of “cash for favours”.
Jenrick said today that “nothing the developer said to me had any bearing on my decision whatsoever”.
He added: “Would it have been better to have not sat next to the applicant? Yes, but that was not my decision.
“Would it ave been better not to have had text messages with him? Yes and both myself and the department will learn lessons from this experience.”