Letter on planning from Prince Charles’s office being kept secret

Admission the GLA is withholding correspondence comes after it emerged several of his charities had been lobbying ministers A letter from the office of the Prince of Wales to Boris Johnson, the mayor of London about planning issues in the capital is being kept secret because disclosure could undermine the prince’s “political neutrality”. The admission is likely to increase calls for greater transparency over the lobbying of ministers by Prince Charles, and his aides and charities. It comes amid continued concern that the prince’s involvement in political matters could cause a constitutional crisis if and when he becomes king. On Monday it emerged that several of the prince’s charities have been lobbying government ministers to change policy on issues ranging from VAT to regional development policy . The Guardian had asked City Hall to release correspondence between the prince and his aides, and elected representatives and officials at the Greater London Authority (GLA) about planning matters in the capital since Johnson became mayor, and specifically letters relating to the plans for the rebuilding of Chelsea Barracks and tall buildings in the capital, both topics the prince has spoken out on. City Hall replied that Sir Michael Peat, Prince Charles’s private secretary, had written to Johnson but the prince had not consented to disclosure of the letter and, although the request came under environmental information regulations, it would not be released. “Disclosure of this information would adversely affect the Prince of Wales because, as heir to the throne, the sensitivity of his communications with public authorities are unlikely to diminish with time due to the fact that once he is the sovereign he will remain in office for life,” City Hall said. “Disclosure therefore could appear to undermine his political neutrality. Furthermore, release of this information would impinge upon the Prince of Wales’s privacy.” James Grey, a spokesman for Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state, said: “This seems to be a clear admission that the Prince of Wales is himself compromising his supposed neutrality by what he is saying in private correspondence with politicians.. “The heir to the throne is required to be impartial in fact, and not just in appearance. The concept of the prince’s political neutrality is worthless unless public bodies can be open about what he is saying to them.” A handwritten letter from deputy mayor Kit Malthouse to the prince was also withheld “as it constitutes Kit Malthouse’s personal data”. “It sets out his opinions on the various matters discussed in the letter and is clearly a personal, rather than an official, note,” City Hall officials said. The GLA agreed it was in the public interest to release the data to help the understanding of “the level of influence (if any) exerted by the Prince of Wales on matters of public policy, such as the future of the Chelsea Barracks site”. But this was negated by arguments in favour of non-disclosure, the officials added, and it wasalso in the public interest that the heir to the throne is not perceived to be “politically biased”. The maintenance of “the convention that provides a confidential space in which the heir to the throne can communicate with government, and the principles of political neutrality which underpin it” outweighed the public interest in favour of disclosure. Prince Charles Boris Johnson Monarchy Planning policy London London politics Robert Booth guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.