Spurs stadium CPO challenge to kick off in January

A challenge to the compulsory purchase order for the site of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club’s planned new stadium is set to be heard by the High Court in the new year. The hearing, in which landowner Archway Sheet Metal Works is fighting the CPO, is scheduled for 15 January, amid claims that “radical” changes to the promoted development scheme, including an increased ground capacity, were being considered behind the scenes ahead of the secretary of state for communities and local government giving the CPO the green light. The CPO was approved in July for the Northumberland Park Development (NPD) scheme, phase 2 of which includes a new 56,250-seat stadium for Spurs next to its existing White Hart Lane ground, for which planning permission was secured in 2011. However, at a hearing on 10 December,  where Archway sought disclosure of documents ahead of the full hearing, Christopher Lockhart-Mummery QC argued that press articles in September and October 2013 had raised questions as to potential changes to the scheme, “some of them radical”. Such changes, he said, include potential for multi-sports use of the stadium, and increased capacity. He claimed that they were “on foot” before the date of the CPO decision, and is seeking disclosure of some of the “voluminous” material relating to scheme changes. As its third ground of challenge to the CPO decision, Archway claims that the secretary of state failed to deal with a significant issue – the lack of any obligation on the football club to deliver major parts of the NPD scheme – and failed to make his decision on the basis of the up-to-date proposals, possibly as a result of Spurs and the London Borough of Haringey misreprenting the true position. Lawyers for the club and the council denied that their clients had done so. Gilbart J will give a decision on disclosure on 11 December. The judicial review challenge is expected to derail Spurs’ plans to move into the new stadium in 2017. In a statement earlier this year, a club spokesman said: “Given the lengthy period of time taken to reach the CPO decision in the first place, we should like to advise supporters that it is highly unlikely we shall be able to open the new stadium at the start of the 2017/2018 season.” The north London club is therefore expected to play all of its home matches away from White Hart Lane for one season. Archway Sheet Metal Works Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Planning Court (Gilbart J) 10 December 2014