The housing secretary is facing fresh scrutiny over his use of planning powers after he intervened in a development project backed by prominent Conservatives and party donors.
Robert Jenrick has used his ministerial planning powers to recover an appeal by Britain’s largest horse-racing organisation, the Jockey Club, for its development of 318 homes and a hotel at the Sandown Park Racecourse in Esher, Surrey.
The Jockey Club launched its appeal after Elmbridge borough council rejected the application because it was on green-belt land and would deliver only 20 per cent affordable housing, against its target of between 40 and 50 per cent.
Normally, an appeal would be decided by the government’s planning inspectorate. Mr Jenrick has intervened to recover the appeal and determine it. In