Spurs lose Olympic Stadium fight
High Court judge rejects applications from Tottenham and Leyton Orient to take OPLC’s decision to judicial review
TOTTENHAM and Leyton Orient have failed in their attempts to prevent West Ham from moving into the Olympic Stadium after their bids for judicial reviews were rejected by a High Court judge.
The north Londoners and chairman Daniel Levy were understood to have queried the process Newham Council undertook in agreeing to underwrite a controversial £40m loan from the Treasury which went towards West Ham’s £90m relocation costs.
Spurs, whose intention it was to rebuild the 80,000 seater stadium minus a running track, have six days to appeal against the rejection of their application and can request an oral hearing to state their case.
Spurs said last night in a statement: “The club has the option of renewing the application at an oral hearing. We shall give consideration to this in the next few days.”
West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady, meanwhile, celebrated yesterday’s decision, saying: “We welcome the news as a further endorsement of our strong and viable legacy vision.
“We hope we can now focus all our energy and passion on delivering a fantastic multi-use Olympic Stadium for the whole nation.
“We were honoured to be unanimously chosen as preferred bidder by the OPLC. Their decision, after a robust and diligent process, was subsequently backed by the Mayor of London and government.
“Our vision – in partnership with the London Borough of Newham – remains for a globally-recognised destination for all, with community at its core, capable of hosting world-class sporting events, including top-level football and athletics.”
“We are pleased with the ruling and continue to make good progress with the preferred bidder to agree final terms,” the Olympic Park Legacy Company added in a statement.
West Ham were unanimously chosen as the preferred occupant, having proposed to reduce the stadium’s capacity to 60,000 seats after the Olympics for use as a multipurpose venue, and crucially retaining the running track to maintain an athletics legacy.