Tottenham Hotspur have been given the go-ahead to progress with the £400m redevelopment of White Hart Lane after the high court rejected a challenge by a local business over a compulsory land purchase order.
Archway Sheet Metal Works, a family-run business based in Paxton Road behind the stadium’s north stand, had asked a judge to quash the order in March 2012 on the grounds that it was unlawful and invalid but has been told by Mr Justice Dove there was “no legal flaw” in the decision-making process.
The firm’s premises were gutted by a fire last November but, had it won its challenge, the club’s plans would have been left in disarray. Spurs, who have successfully relocated 70 local businesses from the site, have had a planning application for the development accepted by Haringey council and can now hope to push on with their plans to convert White Hart Lane into a 56,000-seat stadium in time for the start of the 2018-19 season.
Archway, which describes itself as a “wonderfully old-fashioned family business” producing metal items for the catering and hospitality industry, has been in dispute with Spurs for a decade over the redevelopment plans. The owner, Josif Josif, claims to have received bomb threats over his refusal to vacate the site. “People were calling us and threatening us,” he said after the fire. “We were receiving bomb threats and that started a few months ago but we don’t know if that’s got anything to do with it.”
The company has been denied permission to appeal. However, it has 21 days in which to ask the court of appeal judges directly to consider the case, with the family, who left court without making any immediate comment, considering their options. Mr Justice Dove stressed the Josif family trustees had been perfectly entitled to “fight the appropriation of their land at each stage of the process in a legitimate and proper exercise of their rights”. However, he added: “It follows from my conclusions I am satisfied there was no legal flaw in the process and it was in the public interest that this [purchase order] be made.”
The Josif family have been ordered to pay the community secretary’s legal costs. Spurs and Haringey council applied for part of their costs to be paid by Archway but the judge dismissed their applications.
