New legal challenge to plan for Spurs football academy in London park | OneFootball

Campaigners are mounting another legal challenge to the building of a women’s football academy by Tottenham Hotspur on wildlife-rich parkland in north London.

The Guardians of Whitewebbs group has successfully crowdfunded £26,000 to seek a judicial review of Enfield council’s granting of planning permission for the Spurs academy, which will include all-weather pitches, floodlights and a turf academy built on 53 hectares (130 acres) of Whitewebbs Park. Enfield council’s planning committee approved the proposals in February, despite local protests, on greenbelt parkland rich in bats, newts and mature trees.

The approval came despite local protests about shutting the public out of a swath of the park and the council handing a 25-year lease to Tottenham Hotspur for £2m.

Benny Hawksbee, the chair of the Guardians of Whitewebbs, said the group was “blown away” by donations from more than 800 backers, including Spurs fans outraged by the club’s plans.

The Public Interest Law Centre, representing the Guardians, has filed an application to take judicial review proceedings, claiming the council breached the Local Government Act 1972.

The grounds for the case include a claim that the council misled its planning committee on the issue of biodiversity net gain, that it failed to properly assess the impact of the development on the green belt and that the decision was tainted by apparent bias.

Hawksbee said Spurs should “allow women to use the club’s 17 elite pitches available at their ‘world-class training ground’ in Enfield. The overwhelming majority of Premiership clubs do not segregate men and women footballers in this way. If they allowed the players equal footing, there would be no need to take away our precious public park.”

Campaigners were unsuccessful last year in a high court challenge over the granting of the 25-year lease to Spurs but the new judicial review is based on fresh grounds over the granting of planning permission.

Less than two months after planning permission was granted, a 500-year-old oak tree was felled within a separate part of the park.

Mitchells & Butlers Retail (MBR), which runs a Toby Carvery pub where the tree was felled, apologised for the upset caused by the felling and claimed it was necessary for safety reasons because the tree was dead or diseased.

Last year, a survey on mature woodland at the park, conducted by Tottenham Hotspur football club, which has financial links with MBR, described it as a “fine specimen”.

An Enfield council spokesperson said: “The proposed development of part of Whitewebbs Park is set to bring significant benefits to the local community including the protection and enhancement of the park and woods, further investment in a new on-site cafe, toilets and other facilities as well as preserving open public access to over 80% of the park for all residents.

“Enfield council is confident that proper legal processes and procedures have been followed in the determination of the planning application and will vigorously defend the judicial review.”

Header image: [Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian]