Overview
- Housing Secretary Steve Reed has delayed the decision to December 10 and will rule on planning grounds independently of the rest of government.
- Royal Mint Court residents say any approval based on redacted drawings or unresolved access issues would be unlawful and vow a High Court challenge; updated submissions have reduced the redactions to five.
- The Foreign Office and Home Office have stepped back from insisting on a hard perimeter after Chinese representations, a stance residents’ lawyers say cannot override treaty constraints.
- Beijing has pressed its case with a Note Verbale warning of “consequences” over delays, while Downing Street rejects claims the UK made prior commitments.
- The proposal includes a Heritage Interpretation Centre and forecourt that officials previously warned could be diplomatically inviolable, and critics continue to raise espionage risks given the site’s proximity to City of London data infrastructure.