Housing secretary embroils Conservatives in second planning row
Robert Jenrick facing fresh scrutiny after intervening in project backed by Tory peer and donors
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has been drawn into a second planning row in as many weeks amid reports that he intervened in a development project funded by high-profile Conservatives and party donors.
According to The Times, Jenrick “used his ministerial planning powers” to rule on an appeal by the Jockey Club, Britain’s largest horse-racing organisation, for permission to build 318 homes and a hotel at the Sandown Park Racecourse in Surrey.
The application had been rejected by Elmbridge Borough Council because the proposed development would be on green-belt land and would include only 20% affordable housing. The newspaper reports that an appeal would normally be “decided by the government’s planning inspectorate”, but that Jenrick “intervened to recover the appeal and determine it”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“That means that instead of a government planning inspector writing a decision, the inspector will prepare a report, which will be forwarded to the minister to inform his decision,” The Times adds.
Councillor Richard Williams, of Esher Residents’ Association, described Jenrick’s intervention as “alarming”, saying: “We should be convincing the inspector of our case, not a minister.”
And further objections have been raised after it emerged that the Jockey Club board members include Baroness Harding, the Conservative peer behind the government’s Covid-19 tracing app, and Rose Paterson, who is married to Tory MP Owen Paterson.
The board also includes Peter Stanley, who donated £5,000 to Matt Hancock’s constituency office in Newmarket last year, and Tim Syder, a racehorse owner who handed the Tories £12,500 last November, shortly before joining the Jockey Club’s decision-making body.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
As the row deepens, the Daily Mail reports that Jenrick has “resisted legal attempts to get him to hand over files” in a separate “cash-for-favours” scandal relating to a property development in east London.
Jenrick overruled Tower Hamlets Council in January to approve a request by billionaire Richard Desmond to build 1,500 homes on the site of a former printworks. Former media mogul Desmond donated £12,000 to the Conservative Party shortly after the development was approved.
No. 10 yesterday moved to “distance itself” from the ongoing row, after Desmond appeared to contradict Jenrick’s version of events during the run-up to the application getting the green light, The Guardian reports.
A Downing Street spokesperson declined to tell the newspaper whether officials knew that Jenrick “viewed a promotional video for a £1bn property development before overruling officials to approve it”.
Desmond told The Sunday Times this weekend that he showed the video to the minister during a Tory party fundraising dinner two months before the decision was made, adding that Jenrick watched it “for three or four minutes”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why Man United finally lost patience with ten Hag
Talking Point After another loss United sacked ten Hag in hopes of success in the Champion's League
By The Week UK Published
-
Who are the markets backing in the US election?
Talking Point Speculators are piling in on the Trump trade. A Harris victory would come as a surprise
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: November 3, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
What is the next Tory leader up against?
Today's Big Question Kemi Badenoch or Robert Jenrick will have to unify warring factions and win back disillusioned voters – without alienating the centre ground
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
What is Lammy hoping to achieve in China?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary heads to Beijing as Labour seeks cooperation on global challenges and courts opportunities for trade and investment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Who will replace Rishi Sunak as the next Tory leader?
In Depth Shortlist will be whittled down to two later today
By The Week UK Last updated
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The Tamils stranded on 'secretive' British island in Indian Ocean
Under the Radar Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia, site of important US military base
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
David Cameron resigns as Sunak names shadow cabinet
Speed Read New foreign secretary joins 12 shadow ministers brought in to fill vacancies after electoral decimation
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published