No-one is saying that the developers necessarily directly initiated the fire or were negligent in this case, but motive is an important factor in successful prosecutions and I think it reasonable that the investigation into this damage thoroughly investigate this angle.

After all firemen's lives are being put at risk, so it is important.

I also think it reasonable that the developer should be encouraged to resolve the planning difficulties by removing the financial reward of doing nothing but watch their investment grow.

I agree that is a shame that the developers have brought all this ill feeling on themselves just to squeeze out every last penny from the site.