PLP’s Westferry Printworks scheme thrown out in government U-turn

The government has turned down controversial plans by media mogul Richard Desmond to build 1,500 homes on the site of the former Westferry Printworks, reversing the decision of former housing secretary Robert Jenrick.

Jenrick’s approval of the 30-storey Isle of Dogs scheme in January last year, against the advice of the planning inspector, was later quashed for reasons of “apparent bias” in favour of the applicant, a Tory party donor, provoking a major political row.

这一由PLP设计的方案引起轩然大波后，被送去由一名新的检查员重新考虑，而申请最终由初级住房和流浪汉部长艾迪·休斯代表新国务卿迈克尔·戈夫决定。

According to the decision letter, Hughes agreed with the inspector that the high-rise scheme would cause harm to the settings of both the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site overall and the grade I-listed Royal Naval College and Tower Bridge specifically.

Hughes’ decision said: “The benefits of the appeal scheme are not collectively sufficient to outbalance the identified ‘less than substantial’ harm to the settings of the Maritime Greenwich WHS, the Old Royal Naval College and Tower Bridge.”

This meant that “the policies…that protect designated heritage assets provide a clear reason for refusal”.

However, in a damning decision, Hughes also agreed with the inspector that the scheme breached a raft of different local, national and London-wide planning policies, including around the quality of design and the systems for ensuring sufficient affordable housing would be delivered.

Jenrick faced calls to resign after it became clear that his approval of the scheme, in the face of a recommendation to refuse by the inspector, had been quashed.

后来有证据显示，在陶尔·哈姆莱茨(Tower Hamlets)引入新的cil收费计划之前，詹里克已经推动了这一决定，该计划将使该计划承担超过4000万英镑的账单。

该计划由媒体和房地产公司北方壳牌(Northern & Shell)开发。该公司的所有者德斯蒙德(Desmond)是《快报》的前所有者，近年来曾向保守党和英国独立党(UKIP)捐款。

It was also revealed that Desmond had personally lobbied Jenrick over the scheme at a dinner for Tory Party donors in the autumn of 2019, for which he paid £12,000 to attend.

The decision means Northern & Shell will have to decide whether to build out its existing 722-home permission on the site, launch a legal challenge, or draw up a new scheme.

该决定函件得出结论，该方案“将损害该地区的特征和外观”，在该地区的背景下“过高的高度、规模和质量”，“不会对天际线和当地的城市景观做出积极的贡献”。

The letter added it does “not represent high quality design which responds to its context”, saying “significant weight should be attached to the harm to the character and appearance of the area because of the degree of harm that would be caused”.

The letter said the proposal would, if built out, damage views of historic London landmarks including the Royal Naval College and Tower Bridge, with the scheme resulting in “less than substantial” damage to the significance of the grade I listed buildings.

The decision letter also found that while the provision of 21% affordable housing in the scheme – well under the 35% required by policy – was supported by a viability assessment, the failure to submit the scheme to a “mid stage review” to see if more affordable housing could be provided, meant it was in conflict with a number of planning policies.

In total the decision letter concluded the scheme was in conflict with 22 local, neighbourhood and London-wide planning policies.

In the aftermath of Jenrick’s original decision a spokesperson for his department said the Westferry decision came after “a thorough decision-making process, approached with an open mind, with no question of bias.

“国务卿阅读了(规划)检查员的报告和各方的陈述，并在整个过程中听取了官员的建议。”