Spurs stay silent as new council leader refuses to sign Whitewebbs Park lease

The new minority Conservative administration has vowed to block the plans for a women’s training centre on the park, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter, and James Cracknell

Save Whitewebbs campaigners and (inset) council leader Alessandro Georgiou

The newly-elected leader of Enfield Council has vowed to stop Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (THFC) building a women’s training facility on Whitewebbs Park.

At this week’s annual council meeting on Wednesday (28th), the leader of the new minority Conservative administration, Alessandro Georgiou, said he would refuse to sign a lease to the Premier League football club in order to preserve Whitewebbs “for the enjoyment of future generations”.

Planning permission for a new women’s and girls’ football academy had been granted last year by the previous Labour administration, with THFC proposing to build on a 16-hectare area of the park’s former golf course – with large fences surrounding it.

However, former council leader and Spurs fan Ergin Erbil failed to formally sign off on a 25-year lease of the park to THFC prior to this month’s election, when Labour lost their majority.

This gave the Conservatives an opportunity to block the plans, as they had vowed to do in their election manifesto.

THFC have been approached regarding the new council leader’s announcement, but the North London club declined to comment.

The lease, had it been signed, would have been worth £2million to the council.

Earlier this year, actor Dame Judi Dench backed the campaign against Spurs’ development at Whitewebbs, saying it was “essential” to “protect people’s access to nature”.

Local campaign group Guardians of Whitewebbs had also launched a legal challenge against the council’s decision to grant planning permission, with a judicial review scheduled to take place at the High Court on 24th-25th June. It’s not yet been confirmed whether this case will still be going ahead, but given the council’s new leadership it seems unlikely.

The Conservatives took minority control of the council this week after the Greens abstained on the vote over the election of Cllr Georgiou as council leader, allowing the 31 Tory councillors to defeat Labour’s 27.

Both groups campaigned to protect Enfield’s green spaces in the election and are united in their determination to prevent new development on the borough’s Green Belt. This includes the training facilities planned for Whitewebbs Park.

It also includes plans by the Labour-led government to potentially build up to 21,000 homes on large areas of Green Belt land in Crews Hill and ‘Chase Park’, to the borough’s north. In one of his first actions as leader, Cllr Georgiou wrote to the government saying the council would be withdrawing its interest in the scheme.

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