The communities secretary was wrong to confirm a compulsory purchase order vital to plans for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club’s new £400m stadium redevelopment, a local N17 landlord has claimed.
Archway Sheet Metal Works’ legal representative, Christopher Lockhart Mummery, said at the high court that Haringey council had no authority to make the CPO because earlier pre-conditions set down by the borough’s cabinet had not been met.
He added that Haringey and Spurs had discussed substantial alterations to the stadium and a wider development scheme without informing the secretary of state.
As a result, Archway seeks to persuade Mr Justice Dove to quash the subsequent decision of the communities secretary Eric Pickles to confirm the CPO last July.
Pickles said in his decision letter that, as the authority’s resolution was not challenged at the time, he considered that the CPO was lawfully made.
Lockhart-Mummery argued that this was a “clear misdirection,” and that the conclusion could not follow from the premise.
He said that his client could lawfully now challenge the CPO, on the ground that the acquiring authority had no authority to make it, and added that it has now been revealed that discussions took place between the club and Haringey relating to “substantial changes” in the scheme in the first half of 2014, before the decision letter was issued.
These, he said, included increasing the stadium’s capacity by 5,000, an updated stadium design, an increase in residential development, a new gym and fitness centre, a new hotel, as well as 60,000 sq ft of commercial development space.
In written arguments on behalf of the club, Christopher Katkowski QC said by the time the secretary of state made his decision, he knew that Tottenham Hotspur was contemplating possible changes to the permitted redevelopment scheme.
