Campaigners presented a fresh show of defiance against Tottenham Hotspur and Enfield Council following the decision made last week to approve plans for the park, reports James Cracknell

Local campaigners gathered at Whitewebbs Park to protest the plans by Spurs

Campaigners opposing plans by Tottenham Hotspur to fence off part of Whitewebbs Park have vowed to continue fighting during a protest today (Sunday 16th).

Around 150 people gathered at the park in northern Enfield to demonstrate against the decision made on Tuesday (11th) by Enfield Council’s planning committee to approve the plans for a women’s and girls’ football academy on the former Whitewebbs Park Golf Course.

The local campaigners held a large banner saying “Save Whitewebbs” while other signs included “Keep Whitewebbs for the people of Enfield”, “There will be no football on a dead planet” and “No to fences and plastic pitches”.

Russell Miller, an ecologist who recently criticised Enfield Council’s “failure” to protect Whitewebbs for nature conservation, told Sunday’s protest that the fight to save the park wasn’t over and that London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan still had the power to step in and reject the planning application.

Urging people to write to the mayor, he said: “This is about privatising land for a billionaire to make more money and Enfield should never have consented to this application. There is a vast ecological impact on this application, they haven’t done a proper assessment and we will challenge it.”

Benny Hawksbee, another wildlife expert who has recently been leading nature walks around Whitewebbs as part of the Guardians of Whitewebbs group, also addressed today’s demonstration and said: “Spurs have got so much money, they should be buying private land, they don’t need to be taking over a public green space.”

Benny later described Whitewebbs as an “ecological theme park” rich in biodiversity and unusual natural features and said that since the golf course closed in 2021 the area had become the best example of rewilding in Enfield.

On Tuesday, councillors were told that the proposed new football academy would help grow the women’s game in Enfield and North London and see girls given more opportunities to get involved in the sport, with Spurs captain Bethany England even making a direct appeal for the plans to be approved.

After a marathon three-hour meeting councillors on the planning committee eventually sided with the Premier League club, although the vote was split along party lines with Labour all in favour and the Conservatives voting against.

Once planning permission is officially signed off, if the Greater London Authority or the government doesn’t overturn the decision, Enfield Council will enter a 25-year with Tottenham Hotspur for the golf course and surrounding land, with 16 hectares ultimately enclosed and fenced off as eleven private football pitches are constructed.

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