A bitter row over Hounslow Council's crackdown on illegal extensions has deepened after Alan Keen waded into the debate.
The Feltham & Heston MP (pictured) claimed there was an unwritten agreement that planning officers would turn a blind eye to building work by members of the borough's large Punjabi community.
He argued that the 'deal' suited both sides because, by building rooms for elderly relatives rather than putting them in a home, those residents were saving Hounslow Council a fortune.
He said: "I was a councillor from 1986 to 1990 there was certainly a recognition, almost like the Cranford Agreement, allowing Punjabi families to build extensions."
Mr Keen's comments follow last Saturday's meeting organised by residents who are outraged by the huge rise in fines for illegal extensions in the last year.
However, deputy council leader Mark Bowen strenuously denied the rules had ever been relaxed for the Punjabi community and has written to Mr Keen urging him to withdraw his comments, which he described as 'fundamentally wrong, dangerous and extremely unhelpful'.
