Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has told MPs his decision to speed up his approval of the controversial Westferry Printworks scheme to help the developer avoid paying a £50m charge was “perfectly fair”.

Text messages and documents released last month show the minister asked officials to fast-track the application for the £1bn scheme to help Richard Desmond, the owner of the scheme’s developer Northern & Shell, to avoid the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) which was introduced by Tower Hamlets council in January.

Questioned today by MPs on the the housing select committee about the process which led to his decision to approve the 1,500-home scheme, Jenrick said: “I think it was a perfectly fair decision to try and get this done one way or another before the CIL charge came in.”

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