The leader of Barking & Dagenham council accepted £10,000 worth of free Premier League tickets from a Los Angeles movie company after approving plans for its new film studios.
Darren Rodwell has been entertained 19 times by MBS Group in a luxury corporate box at West Ham’s stadium in the wake of deals paving the way for MBS and its parent company, Hackman Capital Partners, to create 12 sound stages on former industrial sites.
Rodwell has been a prominent advocate of the Eastbrook Studios project, describing it as the “reel deal”. It has involved the borough selling key plots of land to the studio operators and changing planning restrictions.
