The Latest Update on Tottenham’s Stadium
Tottenham have received some good news regarding their stadium plans and should be ready to open up by the 2018-19 season.
According to ESPN UK, and subsequently Tottenham’s official website, the brand new 61,000-seater stadium has just received one more vote of approval after Haringey Council green lit the plans earlier today.
In mid-December, Haringey Council had granted Tottenham permission on their £400 million Northumberland Project that will be built across White Hart Lane. Then in February, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, also approved the plans which set up today’s third successive round of approval. When Tottenham confirmed that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark, joined in on approving the current project in development.
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With all three parties giving Tottenham the go-ahead, it’s officially a reality now that Spurs will have a brand new stadium for the 2018-19 season — which is only three seasons away once this term is over.
Of course, work had already begun on the new White Hart Lane (unofficial name), but the latest seal of approval, which comes on the heels of two previous rounds of consent in February and mid-December, is a great sign that there should be nothing hampering development for the time being.
Now here’s Tottenham’s statement on the matter:
"“The Club can confirm that the Secretary of State has written to the London Borough of Haringey stating that he does not propose to call in the planning application for the Northumberland Development Project and Haringey Council has today (April 15, 2016) granted permission for the scheme.”“We shall now work with Haringey Council in respect of finalising planning processes, public sector support for the surrounding environs and transport improvements that are essential to the deliverability of the scheme.”“We are delighted that the scheme continues to progress and shall keep fans updated. Current works on site can be viewed via the webcam at www.tottenhamhotspur.com/new-scheme/stadium-tv“"
The only thing that Spurs will have to worry about now is where they’ll play.
And at the moment, not much has been said since it was reported that Tottenham had matched Chelsea’s bid to groundshare Wembley Stadium.
With Wembley Stadium being in London, it’s the obvious choice for both Tottenham and Chelsea to call it home for a few seasons (but just one season for Spurs though) while both clubs continue development on their new stadiums.
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If Spurs are unable to groundshare Wembley, then the only other choice is to move further away from their stomping grounds and set up shop inside Milton Keynes’ stadium:mk.
Which wouldn’t have been bad if the travel wasn’t that far, but it is and it could be a nightmare for the first couple of months while fans figure out a plan to get to and from Milton Keynes and back to London.
Wherever Tottenham plays, it’s a temporary plan to play away from White Hart Lane for one season (2017-18) while the state-of-the-art stadium is being developed and completed while the soon-to-be old ground, is demolished to make room.
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As soon as the new stadium is completed ahead of the 2018-19 season, Tottenham will have other events scheduled to help recoup some money (which is typical with brand new stadiums) with 16 non-events per year. As well as up to two or three NFL matches from the International Series for the next 10 years.
It has been an exciting season this year with news of Tottenham’s stadium coming to fruition and then the club doing exceptionally well in just Mauricio Pochettino’s second season.
Once Spurs’ new home opens, expectations will continue to sky rocket and it’s not far-fetched to think that Pochettino and co. can’t deliver with his current project showing signs of progress thus far.