By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – Tottenham Hotspur, buffeted by continual rejections of attempts to take over the Olympic Stadium, have applied for a public funding grant to help resurrect the alternative plan to redevelop their White Hart Lane home.
Last week Tottenham made one final pitch to move into the Olympic Stadium after London 2012 by announcing they will return to the High Court seeking a judicial review.
Tottenham’s challenge against the decision to award the stadium to West Ham United was turned down when a High Court judge declared there were no grounds for a review.
The North London club has the chance, by law, to state their case in an oral hearing and has taken up that option.
But there are now growing doubts about whether they will ever succeed in preventing West Ham, chosen as the preferred bidder and far closer to the Olympic venue, from becoming the new tenants of the Stratford site even though they were relegated from the Premier League.
As a result, Tottenham have returned to the so-called Northumberland Development Project to try to find a way forward even though soaring costs meant the scheme, which involved building a new stadium on the current site, was shelved even though planning permission has been granted.
Tottenham, loath to go into the red with private investment, have now applied for a Regional Development Fund grant.
“We are working hard to make the NDP scheme viable and enable us to stay in Tottenham and redevelop our existing site,” said Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
“Public sector assistance for infrastructure and public realm works would enable us to deliver the project and the RGF represents the single most important route for funding.”
“Our hope must be that there is a recognition of the real need for investment in the Northumberland Park ward and that this project presents a real opportunity to deliver sustainable long-term, private sector-led regeneration.”
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