A company owned by a secretive Russian tycoon that donated more than a quarter of a million pounds to the Conservative Party has been accused of “abusing planning laws” in its bid to build a major undersea power link between Britain and France.
Portsmouth City Council has questioned the legality of proposals for the £1.2 billion scheme put forward by Aquind Limited, which is owned by Viktor Fedotov, a former executive of Lukoil, Russia’s largest oil company.
Portsmouth authorities are particularly concerned about the inclusion of a potentially lucrative high-speed data link in the undersea plans that they say is a “purely commercial” move. Under UK planning laws, associated developments must support the construction or operation of the principal development, in this case the proposed power link.
