Royal Mail lobby firm helped fund Boris fringe do

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail lobby firm helped fund Boris fringe do and hosted meetings on controversial Clerkenwell scheme

http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/20 ... versial-cl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

THE lobby group which helped Royal Mail gain the green light from Boris Johnson for its luxury development at Mount Pleasant has been revealed to be a funder of the ­London mayor.

Indigo public relations ran the public consultation for Royal Mail, as well as hosting meetings about plans for the site in Clerkenwell. The company helps developers gain planning permission. It employs former councillors who know how to help negotiate tricky schemes through the ­planning system.

Last year an investigation by the Daily Telegraph into such companies quoted a former Newcastle city councillor as saying: “I wouldn’t say it’s dark arts, but there are tricks of the trade.”

The Mount Pleasant plan for 681 luxury flats was unpopular with residents, who complained about its scale while council chiefs were unhappy that it would provide just 12 per cent “affordable” housing. Indigo has since changed its name to Thorncliffe.

Now, an article in online news magazine Vice has revealed that Thorncliffe helped pay for Mr Johnson’s fringe speech at the Conservative Party conference in September – just days before he waved through the scheme.

The fringe event was hosted by the ConservativeHome website, with Thorncliffe helping to fund it.

A Freedom of Information request by Mount Pleasant campaigner Judy Dainton also revealed that Indigo donated £1,000 to Mr Johnson’s 2008 mayoral election campaign.

The Vice article quoted a Royal Mail spokesman as saying Thorncliffe “were expressly not involved in any lobbying of the Mayor of London, the GLA or local ­authorities on Royal Mail’s behalf”.

It also quoted Thorncliffe as saying that it sponsored the blogsite (ConservativeHome), not the Mayor of London, “so any suggestion of impropriety is not only wrong but malicious”.