Prescott link downplayed by TVR boss

9:38am Saturday 2nd September 2006

THE boss of a regeneration company has played down his involvement in a deal brokered by the Deputy Prime Minister's son to buy land on which to build homes.

Joe Docherty, chief executive of Tees Valley Regeneration (TVR), met and had lunch with John Prescott's son, Johnathan, who was acting as an agent in the purchase of the Eaglescliffe Logistics Centre, a site on Teesside containing factories and offices.

Mr Docherty confirmed the meetings took place, but said the extent of his and TVR's involvement was that they were contacted out of courtesy and merely listened as an interested party to the proposals, said to involve winning potentially lucrative planning permission for a mixed development, including up to 600 homes.

Caroline Spelman, the shadow local government secretary, has called for an inquiry should there appear to be a conflict of interests involving Mr Prescott senior and his son's business activities.

Last night, Mr Docherty said TVR had treated Johnathan Prescott and the company which had bought the site, JG Land and Estates, no differently to any other.

He also said TVR played no role in the planning process and would only make representations to the local planning authority, Stockton Borough Council, if a development had a detrimental economic effect on an area.

He said: "It is part of TVR's role to actively encourage inward investment into the Tees Valley.

"In order to effectively fulfil this role, we actively pursue dialogue with many developers and agents, listening to their proposals in order to establish whether there are any viable commercial opportunities for the Tees Valley to take. In every respect, our dialogue with Johnathan Prescott and JG Land and Estates has followed the same open and transparent process as it would with any other developer or agent."

Until a cabinet reshuffle in May this year John Prescott and his former department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, was responsible for the redevelopment of brownfield, industrial sites and planning blueprints published for how many new homes need to be built and where.

A spokesman for Johnathan Prescott said: "Johnathan only talked to Tees Valley Regeneration in general terms about the Eaglescliffe site."