Politics

Keen pilot Grant Shapps accused of 'using public cash to block building on airfields'


The Department for Transport hit back at claims that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps used a lobbying body to protect airstrips from development

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps

Transport Secretary and keen pilot Grant Shapps stands accused of using a lobbying body to protect airfields from development.

The minister, who owns a £100,000 aeroplane, set-up and diverted public money to a new team within the Civil Aviation Authority designed to lobby against planning developments that infringe on airstrips, according to the Sunday Times.

The report claims objections by the Airfield Advisory Team helped to frustrate Homes England’s plans for 3,000 homes at the Chalgrove airfield in south Oxfordshire, while also opposing plans for a battery gigafactory at Coventry airport.

It comes as Boris Johnson is under increasing pressure over Tory sleaze allegations in the wake of the Owen Paterson row.

Department for Transport (DfT) officials said the team was not a lobbying body and provided “support to general aviation on a range of matters affecting their operations”.








Boris Johnson is under pressure over allegations of Tory sleaze in the wake of his disastrous attempt to save Conservative MP Owen Paterson from sanction for lobbying
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Image:

POOL/AFP via Getty Images)



A Government source said: “This body is not a lobbying body, it is an advisory body to help general aviation with problems they may have, which may be planning or anything else.

“It is not essentially anti-housing – indeed, housing can sometimes be a solution for financing an airfield.

“As Secretary of State for Transport, it is his function to protect general aviation and we’ve seen a decline in the number of airfields across the country.”

The report also suggested Mr Shapps’ flying hobby had “undermined” Government efforts to repatriate Britons after the collapse of travel agent Thomas Cook in 2019, and had taken up “valuable time” while the DfT dealt with post-Brexit and coronavirus travel disruption.

But the source called the claims were “utterly bogus and demonstrably false”.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman added: “It is right that the Transport Secretary works to promote all aspects of the department’s brief including the general aviation sector, which contributes £4 billion to the economy and supports 40,000 jobs, especially as we focus on our recovery from the pandemic and on building a diverse workforce that’s fit for the future.”

The allegations come as the fourth survey in less than a week put Labour ahead of the Conservatives.

Opinium put Labour (37%) one point in the lead of the Tories (36%), with Sir Keir Starmer ’s party up by one, and the governing party down by one after a survey of more than 2,000 UK adults between Wednesday and Friday.





It is the first time an Opinium poll has had Labour in the lead since January, while the Prime Minister’s approval rating slipped to a new low in one of the company’s polls, with a net rating of minus 21%.

The drop in support for the Tories since its botched handling of the standards row has been recorded in a number of polls in recent days, with a Savanta ComRes poll putting Labour six points ahead and a YouGov survey finding the rival parties neck-and-neck.

A separate survey by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on Wednesday put Labour two points ahead of the Tories.

The findings come after the Government attempted to rip up the current Commons standards system to delay former Tory cabinet minister Mr Paterson’s suspension for breaking lobbying rules, and revelations former attorney general Sir Geoffrey Cox voted by proxy while offering legal services in the Caribbean.

Mr Paterson opted to resign as MP for North Shropshire after 24 years after ministers U-turned on their standards reforms when opposition parties made clear they would not support them.

The messy handling of the affair has since thrust how much time and money MPs raise from second jobs back into the spotlight, along with scrutiny of second home arrangements.


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