Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has used his ministerial powers to approve the supersized version of PLP’s Westferry Printworks scheme – against the advice of a planning inspector.

Client Westferry Developments already had consent for a 722-home version of the scheme, to be delivered in four towers of up to 30 storeys on the 5ha Isle of Dogs site after then-mayor Boris Johnson used his powers to approve the scheme in 2016.

But new plans for the site, owned by former Daily Express and Daily Star proprietor Richard Desmond, were submitted in 2018 adding an extra tower and seeking to deliver 1,540 new homes as well as 1,730sq m of restaurants and bars and 1,048sq m of flexible commercial space.

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