Bob the builder: Steve Reed ((left) sits down for some nosh with housing lobbyists. Here he chats with Paul Brocklehurst, chair of the Land, Planning and Development Foundation
BARRATT HOLMES reports on the Croydon Labour councillors who enjoyed a networking night out with the housing minister
Steve Reed OBE, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North if he can ever be bothered), who has previously exhibited an appetite for generous hospitality at football matches, all paid for by the water industry (he was Labour’s lead on environmental matters at the time), has been enjoying curry dinners alongside housing and development lobbyists who happily paid £2,400 per seat.
Reed is the cabinet member in Keir Starmer’s corrupted government in charge of… housing.
Wearing ridiculous, Bob The Builder-style “Build, baby build” helmets, Reed has had his photo smeared across social media by the lobbyists, a signal that they, at least, think that they have the housing minister on their side over issues such as weakening planning rules, removing local council powers and handing property speculators greater freedoms to build on the Green Belt.
The dinner was organised by Labour Yimby (“Yes in my back yard”), charging £2,000 plus VAT for some seats at the fund-raising, which was trailed with housing minister Reed as the star guest.
The curry night took place at Mumbai Square restaurant in Aldgate last October.
Excited: Reed in his Bob the Builder hat with (from left) Croydon councillors Herman, Reshekaron and Stuart King, the director of a property lobbying firm
Also in attendance were at least three Labour councillors from Croydon: deeply pompous Christopher Herman (South Norwood ward), the shadow cabinet member for streets and environment, the exceedingly ambitious Chrishni Reshekaron (West Thornton), the shadow cabinet member for homes, and Stuart King, the Labour opposition leader who just happens to be the founder of a firm of property lobbyists.
“The Labour Yimby movement marches on,” King wrote soon after posing for a pic with Reed wearing his silly hat.
“Labour’s Yimby Army were back together and assembled in full force last night as they raised funds for two frontline Kent MPs – Kevin McKenna and Naushabah Khan.”
King appeared to be quite excited by it all. “The industry’s man of the moment and Yimby-in-Chief, Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP, was the event’s highly energised and enthusiastic guest speaker.” Ooo.
“There appears to be no appetite to dial down the Yimby rhetoric. Rightly so,” wrote the development industry lobbyist.
This was posted on his personal social media, where King describes himself as a founder of Quoin Partners, the PR consultancy he launched last year with Peter John, the former Southwark council leader, now a Labour peer.
Both John and King had previously worked for Terrapin Communications, the firm run by the notorious boozy luncher, Peter Bingle.
King says that Labour Yimby “is essentially a grassroots movement that has been built from scratch by activists and councillors”.
But that’s complete bollocks.
Labour Yimby’s “financial backers include some of the country’s biggest developers”, Spratt wrote.
“Labour Yimby has been funded by a mixture of construction firms, trade bodies and large-scale property managers,” according to Spratt.
“One of its founders, Adam Allnutt, 36, is the director of a public affairs lobbying firm called TYI Group Limited (The Yimby Initiative). On its website, TYI says it offers high-level and discreet advisory’ for housing and planning development projects and lists major housebuilders among its previous clients, including Capital and Centric and Barratt Redrow.” You can see where this is going.
Build, baby build: Reed’s ‘planning-lite’ approach favours private developers, not the homeless
Spratt reports: “In the last year, Labour Yimby received two donations totalling £16,000 from the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF) – which represents dozens of Britain’s biggest developers – and £25,000 from DB Symmetry Ltd, a company owned by London-based Tritax Big Box, which manages billions of pounds in properties for logistics and warehousing.
“The group also received £12,000 from Tide Construction Ltd, a developer which specialises in modular construction, and £50,000 from Griggs Homes, which sponsored another of the group’s events.”
Tickets for the curry night started at a reasonable 45 quid, but if you wanted a seat at a “corporate table with a special guest”, the i reports that that cost £2,000 a time, plus VAT. Cheap tat Bob the Builder hats came free, it is understood.
It has the look of a cash-for-access meeting from a Labour fringe group. As if Reed isn’t in enough trouble for his role in setting up another influential group within his party, Labour Together, and its own shady funding history.
Of the Labour Yimby bash, Spratt reports: “The developers stand to benefit from the government’s housing policies, particularly if Reed overrules local councils who reject their construction plans.”
Reed has already made changes to planning rules which will give him the power to force through large housing developments even if they face local opposition.
At the Labour Yimby curry night, executives at the table where Reed was pictured sitting included representatives of developers Catesby Estates and Hallam Land, who had live planning appeals with the Planning Inspectorate at the time.
Close to power: tickets to sit on a corporate table at the curry networking event cost £2,000 plus VAT. Housing minister was the centre of attention
“Catesby Estates also has plans to build 300 homes on the outskirts of Melksham, Wiltshire, which will be decided by Reed after an application was rejected by Wiltshire Council, in one of the first such cases since new planning rules were announced.”
Spratt dutifully reported Reed’s Ministry’s denial: “A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said no official government business or planning decisions were discussed at the event.” Of course.
The whole point of these less-formal get-togethers and networking events is that they are off-diary for ministers, not official engagements, so there are no civil servants around to keep records of what is said or discussed.
Reed, as Secretary of State at the MHCLG, has quasi-judicial powers to approve or deny planning applications.
Reed has taken up the arguments of the development lobby against the planning system, despite the many tens of thousands of schemes which have been granted planning permission but remain undeveloped, as speculators landbank property to drive their profits.
Reed has a target of building 1.5million homes during this parliament. There is no clear indication how many of these homes will be, in effect, council or housing association homes available at social rents. It is suspected that the vast majority will be private housing for private profit.
Spratt quotes Neal Hudson, an expert housing market analyst, who said, “It’s not a great look for the Secretary of State for Housing to be sitting at a table in a curry house surrounded by business people and lobbyists whose businesses will be directly affected by his decisions on planning policy.”
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‘The developers stand to benefit…if Reed overrules local councils who reject their development plans…’ so more a case of ‘Yes in someone else’s backyard’.
I suppose we have to accept that construction firms and property firms pay £2000 because Reed is such sparkling company rather than any influence the money might buy.
And, anyway, where does the money end up? The only expense YIMBY has appears to be hats.
As a long-time Labour supporter, Ken, and veteran of multiple fund-raising events such as these, we would have tought you’d welcome donations coming in from sources other than the long-suffering members yet again…
Whatever happened to Labour’s promise to crack down on lobbying and cash-for-access?
Steve the twat in the hat Reed is lining himself up for a seat on the board of a housing developer, following in the footsteps of Lord Barwell
Those shiny, new red hard hats don’t look like they have done day’s work in their lives, just like the shameless idiots wearing them in those photos.
Nothing wrong with lobbying, as long as everything is open and above board. The Labour Party is a master of this – big unions like Unite and GMB have recently campaigned aggressively on the “just transition” for oil and gas workers, demanding specific industrial plans and public investment to protect jobs.
Are we surprised? May I also note that tge 2 Shadow Cabinet members are the most silent and lazy councillors I have ever come across in Croydon we have never was parachuted into South Norwood and the members did not select him and the Shadow Cabinet member for homes rarely turns up a Housing Board meetings or comes late and has never made any contribution. Then we have the Leader works for a PR lobbying firm and whenever I have engaged with him on housing matters in particular RTB finance from the Newman era it’s “ not me Gov”
Shameless bunch of grifters. Labour GIMPY more like.