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Transport secretary Grant Shapps has today been accused of fighting plans by his own Government to build homes on little-used airfields.
Mr Shapps, a keen pilot said to own his own £100,000 aircraft, is said to have used a lobbying body to protect airfields from development.
He disputes claims made in the Sunday Times today that he '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.
The newspaper said objections by the Airfield Advisory Team had helped to frustrate Homes England's plans for 3,000 homes at Chalgrove, an airfield in south Oxfordshire, while also opposing ambitions to build a battery gigafactory on Coventry airport.
But Department for Transport (DfT) officials said the team was not a lobbying body and instead provided 'support to general aviation on a range of matters affecting their operations'.
The Sunday Times reported that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps 'set-up and diverted public money' to a new team within the Civil Aviation Authority which is designed to lobby against planning
