A High Court judge this week quashed the planning permission for a Spurs academy on the park after ruling the council “concealed” key evidence, reports James Cracknell
The former Labour council administration’s lack of transparency and “meaningful consultation” around the plans for a women’s football academy at Whitewebbs Park should “never happen”, according to a local Labour MP.
In the wake of this week’s High Court verdict – which quashed the planning permission awarded by Enfield Council to Tottenham Hotspur FC (THFC) – Enfield North MP Feryal Clark highlighted the “quality of engagement with residents” as one of the major failings of the proposal.
The Labour MP, who first raised her concerns about the former Labour administration’s approach to Whitewebbs around five years ago, has now said that “any future proposals for Whitewebbs must put local residents at the heart of the process from the very beginning”.
In his verdict issued on Monday (27th), High Court judge Sir Tim Kerr ruled that the council’s decision to issue permission for a women’s and girls’ training academy on Whitewebbs Park last year had been made unlawfully.
After hearing two days of evidence in June, Sir Tim Kerr explained in his written verdict that the council had deliberately “concealed” the expert opinion of a professional ecologist who had cast doubt on claims being made by Spurs over the biodiversity impact of the proposed training centre.
In doing this, wrote Kerr, “the committee were given the false impression that he did not disagree” and, therefore, were “materially misled”.
The unlawful decision to award planning permission to THFC was made under the previous Labour administration, which lost control of the civic centre to the Conservatives in May. Upon taking office, new council leader Alessandro Georgiou dropped the local authority’s legal defence of the judicial review, leaving Spurs to fight alone in court.
The judicial review case, heard at the High Court in June, was brought by the Guardians of Whitewebbs campaign group, which collectively raised £35,000 to help fund the case.
In one of the most damning parts of his written verdict, Kerr criticised the council’s failure to disclose a report by an ecologist it had instructed, called Giles Sutton, who had been critical of the claims THFC had made about the biodiversity benefits of its plans for the women’s and girls’ academy at Whitewebbs.
Kerr wrote: “A local planning authority may not avoid a document being a background paper by ‘salami slicing’ its content, relying in the officers’ report on the convenient parts and concealing from the committee the inconvenient parts. That is what happened in this case.”
Asked to comment on the court verdict and Kerr’s direct criticism of the way the council’s planning department – at the time under Labour leadership – had handled the Whitewebbs application, a local party spokesperson said: “Enfield Labour has always supported better grassroots football facilities and greater opportunities for women and girls to participate in sport.
“It is therefore deeply disappointing that the High Court has quashed planning permission for what would have been the first dedicated professional women’s and girls’ training centre of its kind for Tottenham Hotspur.
“We are also concerned that the court found councillors [on the planning committee] were not provided with all the relevant information, including important ecological information, before making their decision.
“While this is a setback for women’s football, our commitment to improving facilities across Enfield remains unchanged. We will continue to campaign for greater investment in grassroots football and high-quality facilities for women and girls, while holding the current Conservative administration to account for delivering on these ambitions.”
The Enfield Labour spokesperson added: “Whatever happens next at Whitewebbs, it is essential that there is meaningful engagement with local residents, community organisations and all stakeholders, so that any future proposals are developed to benefit all residents of the borough, with all the necessary information available, and command public confidence.”
Concerns around public engagement on Whitewebbs were being made long before any planning application had even been submitted, however, and date back to when the lease with Spurs was first being proposed.
In January 2023, Clark wrote a letter to her Enfield North constituents in which she slammed the Labour-run council’s “lack of clarity” on the future of the park. “I understand and share the anger and frustration of residents who feel like their voices have been ignored,” she said at the time.
Now that the plans appear to be in tatters after both the judicial review verdict and Labour’s local election defeat – which was thanks in no small part to its unpopular approach over Whitewebbs and the wider Green Belt – Clark said this week: “Whitewebbs is a much-loved green space that means a great deal to many people across Enfield North. As someone who regularly uses the park, I know how strongly residents feel about its future.
“The High Court’s judgment underlines the importance of getting major planning decisions right. Whatever people’s views on the proposals themselves, local communities must have confidence that decisions affecting treasured public spaces are made through a transparent process, with meaningful consultation and clear information.
“Throughout this process I have consistently raised concerns about the quality of engagement with residents. Too many people felt their voices were not heard or that they were not given the information they needed to participate properly. That should never happen.
“Any future proposals for Whitewebbs must put local residents at the heart of the process from the very beginning, ensuring openness, proper consultation and genuine community involvement.”
This summer’s judicial review was the second to be fought over the future of Whitewebbs Park in as many years. Back in February 2024, Friends of Whitewebbs Park chair Sean Wilkinson led a case against the council’s decision to issue a 25-year lease for half of the park to Tottenham Hotspur. However, following a three-day hearing, the judge threw out all four grounds for the case.
Although not involved in the latest legal battle, Sean this week welcomed the judge’s verdict. He told the Dispatch: “I am pleased. It is another step on the way to protecting the park for local people, and it gives time for the [Conservative-run] council to fulfil its promise to protect the park with things like conservation area status.
“They [Guardians of Whitewebbs] did very well to win a judicial review on planning, as officers are allowed a wide degree of latitude on decisions and the judge doesn’t expect them to be perfect.
“But it must have been quite an egregious error.”
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