Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has admitted he knew the timing of his approval of Richard Desmond’s £1bn Westferry Printworks would have saved the developer a potential £40m in levies introduced by the council the following day.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday 15 June, Jenrick said: “That was a matter of public record. It was referred to in the planning inspector’s report that my department received in November, so all parties would have been aware of that.”
He said his department had known about his interaction with the developer at a Conservative Party fundraiser months earlier and added that the Metropolitan Police had informed him they were no longer investigating the matter.
“They knew about the fact that I had inadvertently sat next to the applicant. I didn’t know who I was going to be seated by, until I sat at the table and I discussed and took advice from my officials in the department at all times,” said Jenrick.
Following Jenrick’s admission of “apparent bias” over the approval of Isle of Dogs scheme, Labour peer and former transport secretary Lord Adonis alerted the Metropolitan Police last month.
Jenrick said: “That was swiftly assessed by members of the Metropolitan Police and they informed me that there were no criminal matters to investigate and they had no intention of taking it further.”
A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police said: “The details were assessed by officers from the special enquiry team who concluded the information provided did not meet the threshold for a criminal investigation.
“There will be no further police action at this time. All parties involved have been informed of this decision.”
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