The Northumberland Development Project is a project to build a football stadium in London which will replace White Hart Lane as the home stadium of Tottenham Hotspur. The stadium has a planned capacity of 61,559 spectators.
The development plans have been revised several times and currently comprise a combination of 579 new homes, a 180-room hotel, a local community health centre, a "Tottenham Experience" - a Spurs museum and club shop, an extreme sports facility and the already complete Lilywhite House, which contains a supermarket, university technical college and new club administration buildings.
Following periods of consultation with the local community, and several rounds of negotiations with Haringey Council and then-Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, planning permissions for the project were issued in September 2011. A compulsory purchase order (CPO) issued in July 2014 giving approval for the new stadium scheme to proceed was subject to an unsuccessful legal challenge in February 2015.
During the long CPO delays, the current designs were developed and the new planning application was approved for them by Haringey Council on 17 December 2015. The anticipated stadium opening date has been revised several times and is currently scheduled for the 2018-19 season.
The new stadium will also serve as a venue for at least two of the National Football League (NFL)'s London Games each season. The NFL has invested £10 million ($12.8m) in Tottenham's new stadium, just over 1% of the budget.
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Background
The club stated in 2007 that it was considering options for increasing stadium capacity involving redevelopment of the current site or a move to a new site. It advised in the 2007/8 Interim Financial Statement that the preferred option would be announced in the first half of 2008, but later delayed this decision until the autumn of 2008.
The club had also considered a move to a new site. One possibility for the club was to use the Olympic Stadium after the London 2012 Olympics. This would have involved a move out of the Tottenham area and the stadium was required to retain a running track, so the club dropped the plan.
Design agency
In November 2007 Tony Winterbottom, formerly of the London Development Agency, who had worked on development of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, was reported as leading the development of the options for the new stadium. In April 2008 it was revealed in the press that investigations were taking place into the possible use of the adjacent Wingate industrial estate. If planning permission and the agreement of the current businesses there was granted, a 55-60,000-seat stadium could be constructed on the current White Hart Lane site.
In December 2008, the design for the new stadium, by KSS Design Group and Buro Happold was revealed. A new design team was announced in July 2015 alongside revised stadium plans. Populous in respect of the stadium design, the hotel and the visitor attractions; Allies and Morrison for the new homes; and Donald Insall Associates as heritage architect.
Projected opening dates
The projected completion date has been put back on several occasions. In 2009, the Spurs' chairman Daniel Levy stated that Spurs intend to move into the partially built new stadium for the start of the 2012-13 season, with the final 56,250-seat venue ready for the following campaign.
Subsequent delays in 2013 relating to compulsory purchase put the completion date back to first to 2016 and in April 2014, it was revised to Summer 2017. Following the 2015 High Court case the opening date was revised to 2018/19 season.
Temporary stadium options
Tottenham Hotspur indicated that to mitigate delays that occurred in the planning process it sook to accelerate the construction of the new stadium by relocating on a temporary basis to an alternative stadium venue. Several stadia were mooted for ground-sharing, including Wembley Stadium and Stadium mk, the Milton Keynes Dons' ground. Other locations include the Boleyn Ground once West Ham United have relocated to the Olympic Stadium, the Rugby Football Union's Twickenham Stadium, and even a ground-share with West Ham at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford. After some time it was announced on 28 May 2016, that Tottenham would play European matches at Wembley from the 2016/17 season, with all games to be played at the stadium in the 2017/18 season.
Development project plans
The Northumberland Development Project covers an area of around 20 acres (81,000 m2), bordered by Park Lane to the South, Worcester Avenue to the East, Northumberland Park to the North and the High Road to the West. Initial plans were that the new stadium would be built alongside the existing White Hart Lane
Tottenham Hotspur had originally planned to move into the new stadium, while it is partially built, for the beginning of the 2012-13 season, and the stadium would be completed by the end of the following season. However, delays due to the compulsory purchase order, need to submit revised plans and seek funding have delayed the project. September 2012 saw the start of the project with work on the site where a Sainsburys supermarket is now located, as part of Phase 1, the construction of Lilywhite House. The estimated completion date of the whole project was then anticipated as 2016.
Spurs have not released the projected cost of the stadium, although it is estimated the original plans were around £400 million. Instead of maintaining the White Hart Lane name, the club plans to pursue corporate sponsorship of the stadium, with Spurs eyeing potential suitors in the UAE and FedEx.
The project overall design announced in July 2015 comprises:
- Stadium with a 61,000 capacity, including single tier stand with 17,000 seats. Incorporating fully retractable pitch for NFL games.
- Media and medical facilities along with player changing facilities were enhanced in the June 2015 design revision with stadium car parking relocated from ground level to a newly designed basement area.
- Offices incorporating both Grade II listed and new buildings comprising ticket offices, club store the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and museum.
- Public open space, incorporating a multi-use games area and cafes.
- Redevelopment of the High Road for improved crowd management.
- 579 new homes (increased from 200 in 2012), including affordable housing.
- New 180 bedroom hotel with 49 serviced apartments will occupy the upper floors.
- New community health centre.
- Extreme Sports venue, including the tallest indoor climbing wall in the world.
- Sainsbury's supermarket with parking, with club offices above. The supermarket opened in November 2013, with the offices in February 2015, as the completed Lilywhite House.
- A primary school run by the E-ACT Free Schools Trust in partnership with the Department for Education and the club.
- A University Technical College specialising in sports, science and health in partnership with Middlesex University was given provisional approval by the Secretary of State for Education in April 2013 and final agreement was reached with the club in September 2013. But in September 2017 it will be the building used for the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham. The building itself was opened in September 2014 in the Lilywhite House.
The club, which is a founding participant of the 10:10 environmental campaign has summarised the energy saving measures and other environmentally friendly elements of the project which it claims will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by around 40% compared to current Building Regulation requirements and make it one of the most environmentally sustainable stadiums in the United Kingdom.
Project funding
On 21 August 2009 Tottenham Hotspur made a Stock Exchange announcement that it was issuing 30 million new shares aimed at raising £15 million to fund the first stage of the proposed development. The funds specifically relate to the professional costs required to advance the project to the point where a full planning application can be submitted. The club's major shareholder, ENIC International Ltd subscribed to take up 27.8 million of the shares. The club have also bid for an investment from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF). A decision is still awaited.
On 22 July 2011, supporter group Supporting Our Future submitted a proposal for a £50 million funding initiative to Spurs to support the Northumberland Development Project by way of a Community Share scheme. This proposal was presented after polling Spurs fans on their views of the club and Northumberland Park Development, and extensive consultation with the club, Haringey Council, and Supporters Direct.
The club announced in April 2014 that it had divested some 'non-core' properties to the west of the High Road relating to phase 1 of the project to TH Property Limited, a subsidiary of ENIC, with the proceeds used to pay down debt secured against those properties.
In April 2017, it was reported that the NFL contributed £10 million to provide American football accommodations in exchange for allowing two NFL games per year in the stadium.
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Planning permission
Planning applications
The club originally submitted a planning application for the stadium to Haringey Council in October 2009, with a view to starting construction in 2010. However, following criticism by English Heritage, and the Government's advisory body on architecture, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, and other conservation groups about the proposed demolition of listed buildings, in May 2010 the club withdrew its planning application in favour of a revised plan, which retained the listed buildings, reduced the number of new-build residential houses and improved the public spaces. On 30 September the Planning Committee of Haringey Council unanimously approved the revised planning application. Daniel Levy, Tottenham chairman said:-
The Mayor of London gave his approval to the plans to redevelop the stadium on 25 November 2010. The club confirmed, on 9 December 2010, that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had written to confirm that she did not propose to call in the planning application and that English Heritage would not be seeking further consideration of the listed building consent application for the Northumberland Development Project, the club concluded the Section 106 agreement with Haringey Council and planning permission was granted on 20 September 2011.
In December 2015, largely revised plans were approved by Haringey Council that would enable the higher capacity 61,000 seat stadium to be built as well as widening of the High Road pavement leading to the new stadium by demolishing three buildings (Edmonton Dispensary, The Red House, and the former White Hart Public House).
Regeneration and infrastructure projects
Following the riots in the Tottenham area other parts of London and elsewhere in England in August 2011 the Greater London Authority and Haringey Council announced on 28 September that it would relieve the club of all community infrastructure payments that planners would normally require, estimated at £8.5m, and to provide a further £8.5m for regeneration and infrastructure projects. As part of the agreement an additional £9m was also committed by the London Borough of Haringey to improve services for residents in the area.
Reports that the development would not be pursued resulted in concessions by Haringey Council on the section 106 planning obligations for the development. The initial demand of 50% affordable housing was abandoned while Spurs increased the number of dwellings to be created as part of the development from 200 to 285 market-rates homes. The initial Section 106 agreement for £16.436m investment in community infrastructure was reduced to £0.477m. The council agreed instead in February 2012 to produce an "area-wide regeneration masterplan" involving the mass clearance of the existing homes and businesses, the creation of a relocated White Hart Lane station and a walkway for fans from the station to the stadium, and the building of new apartments. This is a controversial outcome, given the high levels of deprivation in Tottenham and the high levels of demand for social housing. The club planned to rename the White Hart Lane station to Tottenham Hotspur.
Compulsory purchase order proceedings
In April 2013 a Public Inquiry was held about the last remaining property to be acquired. Following this, the Planning Inspector recommended refusal of Haringey's application for a Compulsory Purchase Order in his report dated 24 September 2013, because he thought it was unacceptable that the London Borough of Haringey had waived the affordable housing requirement in the original S.106 Agreement.
On 11 July 2014, a much delayed decision by Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government agreed with a compulsory purchase order made by the London Borough of Haringey enabling the project to proceed. Tottenham Hotspur issued a statement reporting it had ensured that the plans for the new stadium had been "optimised and future-proofed" during the long process of granting the compulsory purchase order.
In September 2014, the remaining business with two plots on the development site, Archway Sheet Metal Works, initiated a legal challenge in the High Court that the compulsory purchase order was unlawful and invalid.
On 20 February 2015, the High Court judge ruled that the compulsory purchase order was legal and valid. He also refused permission to appeal though it could be referred directly to the Court of Appeal, which on 13 March 2015 Archway Steel confirmed to the Club it would not be pursuing. On 31 March 2015, in a joint statement the Club and Archway Sheet Metal Works announced that agreement had been concluded on the sale of the remaining plots on the Paxton Road required for the development to proceed.
Olympic Stadium plans
On 1 October 2010 Daniel Levy confirmed in a press statement issued following planning approval of the Northumberland Development plan the previous day that the club had also registered an interest in the Olympic Stadium site in conjunction with AEG (Europe) as the deadline for declaring interest was on 30 September 2010. The Chairman explained that:-
On 12 November 2010 the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) announced that together with West Ham United, the Tottenham Hotspur/AEG consortium were the preferred bidders to take over the Olympic stadium after the 2012 Olympics. The OPLC advised that negotiations would proceed with both bidders and the winning bid would be confirmed in March 2011. On 13 January 2011, David Lammy, the Member of Parliament for Tottenham threatened to take legal action against the use of name 'Tottenham' if the club went ahead with a move out of Tottenham.
The OPLC announced on 11 February 2011, that West Ham had been selected as the preferred bidder for the Olympic Stadium, subject to the decision being ratified by Government departments and the Mayor of London. In a statement Tottenham Hotspur advised that as the deal was not yet concluded the club would continue to "monitor the situation". Spurs then applied for a judicial review to overturn the OPLC's decision, however this appeal was rejected in June 2011
The Olympic Legacy Company announced on 5 July 2011 that an independent review into the awarding of the Olympic Park Stadium to West Ham F.C. was to be carried out on its behalf by auditors Moore Stephens. This was a consequence of the discovery on 30 June 2011 that an employee of the Legacy Company, Dionne Knight, had been engaged by West Ham to carry out consultancy work relating to the Olympic Stadium without permission of the OPLC. The OPLC announced that Ms Knight had been suspended while a possible conflict of interest was investigated.
It also became known that Ms Knight had already declared to the OPLC that she was in a personal relationship with a director of the football club. Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur announced it was seeking another judicial review of the decision to award the stadium to West Ham after the Olympics.
On 24 August 2011, Tottenham and Leyton Orient won a review of the decision, being told that they had an arguable case. The review was due to take place on 18 October 2011. However, on 11 October 2011 the deal to sell the stadium to West Ham collapsed. On 17 October 2011 it was announced by the government that Tottenham Hotspur (and Leyton Orient F.C.) had withdrawn legal action seeking a judicial review into the handing of the Olympic Stadium to West Ham.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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