Mayor Calls On Spurs For Stadium Commitment
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has made a final call for Tottenham Hotspur football club to commit its long-term future to north London and help to kick-start major regeneration in the area.??
The Mayor, and the leader of Haringey Council, Claire Kober, have both urged the club to press ahead urgently with their proposal to build a new stadium at Northumberland Park, next to their ground in White Hart Lane now they have been given planning approval by Haringey. ??
Representatives from the GLA and Haringey Council today met with senior Tottenham executives, including chairman Daniel Levy, to lay a comprehensive £17m joint offer on the table that would see a raft of public realm and transport improvements made as part of a long-term regeneration package.??
The Mayor’s package includes £5m for vital infrastructure and public realm works and £3.5m worth of funding to secure key improvements to transport links to and from the area at Tottenham Hale and White Hart Lane stations.??
The offer means that the club would be relieved of all planning gain requirements that are often associated with large scale developments.
The Northumberland Park project now solely relies on a commercial decision by Tottenham Hotspur to go ahead with their proposals. ??
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: ‘Tottenham Hotspur has long been an integral part of the community and by staying true to its roots the club now has the power to revolutionise an area of the capital that has been neglected for far too long’. ??
‘Last month’s riots were a telling reminder of just how important it is for Spurs to press ahead with the development at Northumberland Park and to help kick-start a much wider regeneration project that would create jobs and give Tottenham the economic boost it deserves’.
??’The club knows there is no more money available from the public purse and I sincerely hope that they accept the offer we have made. It is not just in the best interests of Tottenham Hotspur and the fans of this great London club, but of the wider north London community’.??
Haringey Council Leader, Claire Kober, said: ‘It is critically important that Spurs commit to Tottenham to help drive forward regeneration in this very deprived area. We realise that there are viability difficulties and have worked with the GLA to pull together an in principle offer of assistance, which is of course subject to planning approval. We believe this offer would help to bring the scheme forward’.??
‘We’ve always said we want very much for Spurs to stay where they are revered and we feel belong. That means we remain willing to discuss matters with Spurs’.??
The Mayor has pledged that as part of the GLA’s responsible procurement policy the project would seek to award contracts to local companies as far as possible and that firms involved in delivering the improvements would be required to take on apprentices from the local area. ??
The £8.5m package laid out by the Mayor is for regeneration in and around the Tottenham area – it is not intended to fund development of the stadium itself.
