Football club developing new plans for women’s academy on site earmarked for wildlife and education, reports James Cracknell

The original plans (bottom right) for a nature reserve at Dicken's Trough Meadow and (left) an environmental centre together with a nature trail and multi-use sports facility sited with the main Tottenham Hotspur training complex — The original plans for a nature reserve at Dicken’s Trough Meadow (bottom right) and an environmental centre together with a nature trail and multi-use sports facility (left) sited within the main Tottenham Hotspur training complex

Questions are being asked over whether Tottenham Hotspur can be “trusted” to deliver on its promises for Whitewebbs as the wait goes on for a long-promised nature reserve.

The football club recently submitted plans for a temporary women’s academy on part of its Bulls Cross training complex that was previously earmarked for a nature trail and environmental centre where local schoolchildren would learn about wildlife.

Spurs are keen to develop new training facilities for its women, who recorded a best-ever Women’s Super League finish of fifth this year, but who currently train at a school in Mill Hill. The long-term plan is to build a permanent base at the now-closed Whitewebbs Park Golf Course, which Tottenham Hotspur won a 25-year lease to manage from Enfield Council last year. The academy would be within walking distance of the main training complex in Whitewebbs Lane, but no planning application has yet been submitted.

In the meantime, the urgent need for a new facility has led to Tottenham Hotspur drawing up an interim solution. These plans involve the construction of a smaller, “temporary” women’s academy building and football pitch within the perimeter of the club’s £45million training complex, on a vacant field – the same site where Tottenham Hotspur won planning permission in 2018 to create a nature trail and environmental centre.

Asked by the Dispatch about the apparent conflict with its two different schemes, a Spurs spokesperson insisted the original plans were “in progress” and that the proposed women’s academy building, sited in a corner of the field, would not obstruct the environmental centre and nature trail. Both schemes feature the inclusion of sports pitches, although the original idea was for them to be used by schoolchildren, with the plans describing “a unique and high-quality education experience for school pupils” where “education, sport recreation and nature conservation can be brought together”.

At Dicken’s Trough Meadow, an adjacent site just outside the perimeter of Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre, the club previously pledged to open a nature reserve that would help educate children about wildlife and – combined with the environmental centre – form an essential part of a “school visit” experience for pupils across Enfield.

Richard Stones, a committee member with The Enfield Society, explained that the promise related to a commitment Tottenham Hotspur made when the club built its training centre back in 2012. Because it was sited on Green Belt land in Bulls Cross, Spurs agreed to create a nature reserve and public footpath as compensation for the loss of natural habitat. Although the footpath was delivered several years ago, Dicken’s Trough Meadow remains closed to the public.

Richard told the Dispatch: “Spurs are a successful football club and business and therefore one has to be sceptical as to their priorities and whether there will be an impetus for them to create this nature reserve, because they will not make money out of it.”

Tottenham Hotspur’s plans for Whitewebbs include turning half of the former golf course into “historic parkland”. In a summary of its proposals published last summer, the club stated it would “enhance public access, improve opportunities for recreational and community use”.

Richard remains sceptical. He said: “From our point of view, the concern is that if we cannot trust Spurs to create this nature reserve, why should we believe that they can do the things they have said they are going to do with Whitewebbs?”

A club spokesperson said that the plans for Dicken’s Trough Meadow and the environmental centre have “been formally commenced” after being “paused during the pandemic”. However, the club has not been able to provide a timeline for their opening.

A planning statement submitted on behalf of Tottenham Hotspur says: “The western field benefits from extant planning permission to develop a new multi-use sports pitch, environmental centre and nature reserve. The applicant remains committed to delivering this development and the enclosed proposals are a temporary interim measure only.”

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