Spurs Pushes Back Against 'Flawed' £1B Lendlease Resi Scheme

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has kicked developer Lendlease’s plans for up to 3,000 homes near its new stadium into the long grass after claiming the “flawed” scheme could endanger public safety.

Haringey Council voted to delay the decision over the High Road West scheme, to give the plans “full consideration” after the football club warned it may not legally be able to give the scheme the green light.

The local authority took legal advice after Spurs said the proposals could lead to crowd control problems at the stadium on days when matches are played.

The club also stated that the council could not lawfully assess the planning application at the present time as a crowd control study had only been submitted on 3 March.

In a letter dated 16 March Richard Max & Co solicitors, acting on behalf of the football club said: “The very late provision of the crowd flow study has meant that THFC [Tottenham Hotspur Football Club], and other stakeholders including the emergency services, have been provided with very little time to properly consider the impact of the High Road West application on the operation of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and in particular, the management of crowd flows associated with major events.

“As set out in our 14 March letter this is completely unsatisfactory given the importance of the issues, procedurally flawed and unlawful.”

Submitting a neighbour representation to the council, Tottenham Hotspur also said that the club had not been consulted properly prior to the application. 

“The degree of flexibility sought in both the composition of the uses within the scheme, the lack of any meaningful detailed design information, and the minimal commitment to the delivery of leisure and social infrastructure, raises fundamental concerns about what will actually be delivered," Tottenham said.

“THFC is currently reviewing the crowd flow submissions and will comment further in due course but are concerned about the lack of assessment of the interim impacts ... THFC does not consider that it is currently possible for the Council to lawfully assess and determine the High Road West Application.”

The High Road West scheme will see an area directly opposite the new Spurs stadium redeveloped to deliver up to 3,000 homes and a new public square. The area is a key corridor between the stadium and the White Hart Lane train station.

In its response to the claims Lendlease said: “Lendlease strongly refutes the suggestion that it has not met with THFC, nor provided crowd flow information in a timely manner. Multiple meetings have been held since the summer of 2021 followed by long periods of inertia from THFC.”

The latest battle over High Road West comes after Spurs tried to gain backing for its own plans opposite the stadium. In November 2017 the club revealed plans to build a 330-home mixed-use scheme on land that was earmarked for part of the £1B development.

Tottenham Hotspur is understood to be building or have built over 1,000 homes of its own in areas near to the stadium as well as other parts of Tottenham.

The football club also criticised the design illustrations for the High Road West scheme saying that the visualisations appear to show a smaller scheme than what the planning application itself allows for.

“In several instances, it appears that the applicant has relied on the illustrative scheme, rather than the maximum scale of development to show more advantageous outcomes," Tottenham said. "In this case the extreme degree of flexibility sought by the applicant is too great to allow the likely significant effects to be properly assessed.”