Ministers have delayed a decision on whether to grant planning permission for a proposed Chinese ‘super-embassy’ in London, pushing the date back to 21 October. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who also serves as housing secretary, was originally expected to make a ruling on 9 September but cited the need for more time to consider the plans for the 20,000-square-metre development at Royal Mint Court in east London.
The decision follows concerns over redacted drawings in the building’s plans. Earlier this month, Rayner gave the Chinese embassy two weeks to provide additional details, noting that two proposed buildings—the cultural exchange building and Embassy House—had been ‘greyed out’ in the submitted drawings. She requested the planning consultancy handling the application to identify precisely which drawings were redacted and explain the rationale.
The consultancy responded this week, stating it was ‘neither necessary nor appropriate’ to provide full internal layout plans, arguing that the unredacted plans already sufficiently identify the main uses. Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, criticised the response, saying: ‘These explanations are far from satisfactory. The government set very few conditions and the Chinese didn’t even meet those.’
The proposed embassy has faced fierce opposition from local residents and campaigners concerned about Beijing’s human rights record in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Several large protests have taken place outside the site in recent months. The Chinese embassy in the UK has urged the government to approve the application without delay, calling it an international obligation of the host country to support diplomatic premises construction.
China purchased the Royal Mint Court site for £255 million in 2018, but plans stalled after Tower Hamlets council refused planning permission in 2022, citing security concerns and resident opposition. The previous Conservative government declined to intervene, but Labour called in the decision after taking power last summer. The embassy’s future has become a major issue in UK-China relations, with President Xi Jinping raising it with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in their first phone call last August.
