China has put plans to build Europe's largest embassy in London on hold and called on the British government to ensure it overcomes the local authority's objections to the proposals.
The Chinese government had been given until this Thursday to file an appeal to Tower Hamlets council in east London after the proposals for the embassy to be built at Royal Mint Court were rejected last year. The process in UK planning is to appeal first via the local authority.
But Chinese officials have not appealed and instead have called on UK central government to give assurances that it will clear a resubmitted application.
The foreign ministry in a statement asked the British government to meet its “international obligation” to help it build a new embassy, and said China wanted to find a solution “on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit”.
Tower Hamlets council threw out China's bid to build on the site of the old Royal Mint near Tower Bridge in December of last year.
Despite planners recommending the plans for approval, the council voted to reject planning permission for the multimillion-pound development. Councillors, who voted 7-0 against the plans, cited safety and security concerns.
The ongoing stand-off over the plans is certain to ratchet up tension between Beijing and the UK government.
China's plans for the historic 5.4-acre site, to the north-east of the Tower of London, would have a 619,200-square-foot development for a new embassy, with staff accommodation accounting for around 353,261 square feet or 57% of the floor space.
Concerns raised over the Chinese Communist Party building such a large enclosed embassy in London led to some MPs and members of the House of Lords calling for the government to investigate the planning application.
Speaking to The Times, Lord Alton of Liverpool, a former Liberal and Liberal Democrat MP, said the UK's relationship with China has changed considerably since 2018 when the site was bought, meaning the development should be reviewed.
He said: “The idea that the Royal Mint should become a prime site for the promotion of the CCP is wrong. It will give them a great deal of prestige and I am sympathetic to the security issues and the concern from local residents. I think the secretary of state should call it in.”
The proposals have been politically contentious for some time, with Tower Hamlets council drawing up a motion to voice critical views on China’s treatment of the Muslim Uyghur people and the citizens of Hong Kong during the planning process.
Royal Mint Court is located just off East Smithfield Street, overlooking the River Thames and opposite the Tower of London. It has been largely vacant since early 2013.
It was the location of the Royal Mint, with the nation’s coinage produced there from 1810, when production inside the Tower of London stopped. The Royal Mint vacated the site in 1976 after its work had moved to Llantrisant in Wales. Aside from the listed Seaman’s Registry Building and the Johnson Smirke Building, the remaining office spaces on-site date from the late 1980s when the Crown Estate disposed of the site and it was redeveloped.
The People’s Republic of China bought the site in 2018 for £250 million and the proposals would see its headquarters at Portland Place in Marylebone relocated to the larger premises, becoming the workplace and hub of all day-to-day activities.