The decision on whether to approve China’s “super-embassy” in central London has been delayed for a second time.
A ruling on the plans had been due by October 21, but this has now been pushed back to December 10, although this is “not legally binding”, Downing Street has said.
It follows an earlier delay from the initial September 9 deadline on whether to give the controversial project the green light.
Many inside and out of government have raised concerns over the threat to national security the planned embassy could pose.
The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said: “Given the detailed nature of the representations that have been provided, and the need to give parties sufficient opportunity to respond, MHCLG (The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) consider that more time is needed for full consideration of the applications.”
“You are aware that this is a quasi-judicial decision, independent from the rest of Government. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment further when the case is before MHCLG ministers.”
Asked if the postponement was a politically-influenced decision, No 10 insisted the Government was “very much bound by the quasi-judicial” nature of planning law.
The “detailed set of representations” have contributed to the long process the application has undergone, the PM’s spokesman suggested, when asked why ministers’ drive to speed up planning had not yet led to the embassy’s approval.
China bought the site at Royal Mint Court next to the Tower of London for £255 million in 2018.
But China’s plans for the “mega embassy” has sparked fears from human rights groups and officials over concerns about its location, citing national security risks and lack of transparency.
Residents nearby also fear it would pose a security risk to them and attract large protests.
Both the Metropolitan Police and Tower Hamlets Council have raised objections, while the project’s scale and secrecy have fuelled wider fears of foreign interference and diplomatic overreach.
Committee chairman Matt Western MP wrote to Mr Reed saying that the proposed location presents “eavesdropping risks in peacetime and sabotage risks in a crisis” due to its proximity to fibre-optic cables, data centres and telecoms exchanges serving Canary Wharf and the City.
The looming decision on the embassy comes amid continued scrutiny of how the Government and the Crown Prosecution Service handled the collapsed Chinese spying case.
Mr Western said the case was a recent reminder of the scale of China’s alleged illicit activities.
“We urge you to acknowledge that approving this decision is not in the UK’s long-term interest, and the consequences of having such a site will be very difficult to handle if relations with Beijing worsen in future,” he said.
“We therefore urge the Government to keep long-term national security at the forefront of its decision-making, and this must be demonstrated in your response to the embassy planning application.
“The UK’s security and economic resilience will be negatively affected if the plans are allowed to proceed as currently proposed.”
However, Beijing resubmitted the application two weeks after Sir Keir Starmer’s general election victory last year, reportedly in the belief that a Labour government might take a more favourable view. The application was then called in, meaning ministers would now make the final decision.
