By Andrew Warshaw at the Guildhall in London
April 20 – Tottenham Hotspur’s bid to overturn the decision to allow rivals West Ham United to move to the Olympic Stadium after next year’s Games is doomed to fail, London Mayor Boris Johnson hinted today.
Tottenham have sought permission from the high court to bring a judicial review against the London Borough of Newham over its provision of a £40 million ($65 million) loan to West Ham in order to facilitate the club’s move to the Stratford site.
Following a bitter battle, the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) chose West Ham’s joint bid with Newham to retain the stadium with its athletics track over a proposal from Tottenham to turn the site into a purpose-built 60,000-capacity football ground.
Tottenham are strongly questioning the funding deal between West Ham and Newham Council which helped the winning bid but Johnson believes there will most likely still only be one outcome.
“We’ll have to see what happens with any legal challenge but my strong view is that the decision was the right one for London,” Johnson told insideworldfootball.
“The option of Spurs going to the Olympic Park has considerably receded,” added Johnson whose office has approved the West Ham bid.
“I’m confident the decision was properly taken. There is no doubt about the way the whole thing was conducted by the OPLC.”
Nevertheless, said Johnson, he would do everything in his power to help Spurs redevelop their current North London ground at White Hart Lane, which holds just 36,000, as an alternative.
Planning permission has already been given in principle for an adjacent 56,000-seater arena but Spurs are worried about having to fund most of the project themselves without any public money at all.
The club have run out of patience with those bodies they feel are slowing down the £450 milion ($738 million) so-called Northumberland Park development project on land next to their existing ground.
Johnson said he would attempt to kick-start negotiations.
“There is great potential in the Tottenham area to drive regeneration,” said Johnson, who was speaking after attending the official handover of the Champions League trophy at London’s Guildhall.
He repeated, not for the first time, that he was happy to mediate to try to develop a joint venture between Spurs and local authorities so that the club could remain loyal to their roots.
“Obviously we are talking both with Spurs and Haringey Council to get the best possible solution,” said Johnson.
“”We have a fantastic bid for that part of London and want to do everything we can to help.”
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