The government has been given an embarrassing wrap over the knuckles by the Court of Appeal for failing to follow its own rules when ministers refused to call in Renzo Piano’s £825m Paddington Cube last year.

The court said ministers and civil servants appeared to have simply forgotten the government’s transparency pledge to give reasons for not calling in planning decisions.

Today’s decision was declared a “major victory for openness and transparency” by conservation pressure group Save Britain’s Heritage which took the government to court over the matter.

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