Enfield Dispatch

An Enfield Council planning committee meeting will debate the highly controversial plans for a women’s football academy on Whitewebbs Park this Tuesday

Contentious plans by Tottenham Hotspur for a women’s football academy on Whitewebbs Park have been recommended for approval by Enfield Council’s planning department ahead of a committee meeting next week.

Councillors on Enfield’s planning committee are set to meet at Enfield Civic Centre from 7pm on Tuesday (11th) with the future of Whitewebbs still in the balance.

While the council’s planning officials have produced a 126-page report explaining the reasons why they deem that Spurs have demonstrated “very special circumstances” to justify fencing off around half of the former Whitewebbs Park Golf Course for use by its women’s and girls’ team, councillors will make their own judgement following Tuesday night’s debate and may still vote to reject the scheme.

Unusually for planning committees, the meeting will take place within the council chamber itself, likely because a large number of people are expected to attend in the public gallery.

Planning permission remains the final obstacle for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (THFC) in its goal to take over the former golf course, which lies adjacent to its existing Whitewebbs Lane training centre first opened in 2012.

However, even if councillors vote to approve it on Tuesday, the Greater London Authority will also need to give it a seal of approval.

The Premier League club was selected by Enfield Council in 2021 as the preferred bidders for the golf course following a tendering exercise in 2019. The final decision in 2023 to award a 25-year lease to THFC was later challenged at the High Court in 2024 but the judicial review judge eventually deemed it lawful.

The lease will not be officially signed off by the civic centre, however, before THFC successfully obtain planning permission.

The council’s report on the plans explains that the application site comprises the now-closed 18-hole ‘pay and play’ municipal golf course with “clubhouse, woodland and pasture” plus adjacent land, extending to approximately 53 hectares in total.

It states that the council-owned golf course “had been operating at a financial loss for several years” and, in light of this, the course was closed in 2021. In the four years since, the report explains, “a permitted change of use to open parkland has taken place” and “the site is well used as open space by the local community for recreational purposes”.

The planning application itself is for the provision of a new women’s and girls’ football training complex plus, the report states, “the restoration of the parkland, with enhancements and refurbishments of footpaths” and part demolition of the southern café “to allow for refurbishment works and a new community hub facility, with public realm improvements”.

A “historic carriageway” will also be reinstated to provide new road access to the Toby Carvery at Whitewebbs and there are said to be “other improvements to parking facilities, security and the management of the parkland” proposed, as well as “significant tree planting and enhancement works”.

While the application site measures 53 hectares, the area to be enclosed for the football training facility extends to 16 hectares and there would be 23 hectares of “restoration works to the historic parkland area” with public access. The remaining twelve hectares would be “preserved as woodland and would see a number of enhancements to improve the quality of the woodland”.

Within the fenced training centre boundary, “eleven football pitches and associated infrastructure” would be constructed with the existing northern clubhouse used to provide changing facilities for the players.

Describing responses to the council’s statutory consultation on the plans, the report states there were 296 objections received as well as 41 statements of support.

Among the stakeholder responses was an objection from Woodland Trust “on the basis of loss and deterioration of veteran and notable trees and the potential loss and deterioration of ancient woodland from the proposed development”.

Commenting in response, the council’s tree officer said: “The applicant has demonstrated there will be no loss of veteran trees and that a 15-metre buffer zone will remain to protect the ancient woodland.”

Sport England also submitted an objection over its concerns over the loss of the golf course, although it does support “the opportunity for the local community to have access to an elite training academy that will provide new facilities for women and girl’s professional football”.

In response to Sport England’s objection, the report states: “In officers’ opinion, the application would provide the introduction of a new outdoor elite sports facility, which through the legal obligations commits the applicant to the community and education programmes.”

Meanwhile, the Football Association said it supported Tottenham Hotspur’s plans.

The council report’s conclusion states: “On balance, taking account of the national Green Belt policies, the presumption in favour and the weight to be given to development, it is concluded that the proposed development has demonstrated ‘very special circumstances’ and overall accords with the policies of the NPPF [National Planning Policy Framework] and development plan and other relevant material planning considerations including emerging policy.

“The application is therefore recommended for approval, subject to planning conditions, and contributions and obligations secured via legal agreement to mitigate the impacts of the development.”

The recommended conditions attached to the planning permission would include the training centre’s floodlights being turned off no later than 8.30pm each night and a minimum of 2,000 new trees being planted.

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The BBC Springwatch presenter recently criticised Tottenham Hotspur for wanting to build its women’s training academy on the park, reports James Cracknell

The leading campaigner against Tottenham Hotspur’s plans to build a women’s football academy on Whitewebbs Park says he remains hopeful of launching a legal appeal against it – while welcoming recent support from Chris Packham.

Earlier this year Friends of Whitewebbs Park chair Sean Wilkinson led an unsuccessful judicial review against Enfield Council’s decision to lease more than half of the park’s area to the Premier League club, which plans to fence off its north-east corner for use by its women’s and girls’ teams, but his lawyers are currently waiting to hear whether a request for a review of the case via the Court of Appeal will be accepted.

In the meantime, Springwatch presenter and wildlife campaigner Chris Packham has waded into the debate around the future of Whitewebbs – blasting Spurs for what he says are “nonsensical” plans.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror earlier this month, Packham said: “There’ll be no football on a dead planet […] what we are up against is the bloated monster that is the Premier League with its unfortunate economic might. This is another case of David versus Goliath.”

An independent ecological survey conducted last year by chartered biologist Denis Vickers concluded that Whitewebbs was “rich in invertebrates” and was home to eleven species of bats, eight species of butterfly included on the London priority list, was used as a hunting ground by kestrels, and had potential to become a site of importance for nature conservation (Sinc) if properly managed – but that this potential would not be fulfilled with the current plans from Tottenham Hotspur.

The review concluded: “The development of a fenced and significantly relandscaped football training centre is seen as inappropriate and contrary to preserving this exceptional landscape. An aesthetically pleasing landscape is a criterion in Sinc selection and designation.”

In his interview, Packham continued: “We are going to lose so much valuable space for what are essentially football pitches. We are losing that acid rich grassland to a small group of people behind fences who kick a ball around. It’s absolutely nonsensical.

“This is at a time where we are conscious of the fact we need to protect every last square of greenery, particularly in cities where it has multiple values.

“It’s not just about nature conservation, it’s about people’s mental health and access to nature for people who are living in a crowded urban environment. It’s absolutely bonkers and Spurs are totally disconnected from reality.”

Sean has welcomed the comments from Packham and the higher profile it gives to the Save Whitewebbs campaign. Last month, a further £10,000 was raised towards the cost of the appeal against the judicial review verdict, which the Court of Appeal is currently considering.

He told the Dispatch: “We still think we have a strong case and it is a very important point of law which is significant not just for Whitewebbs but all the other open spaces in London.

“That is why we must keep fighting it, and why Chris Packham and CPRE and our solicitors are fighting it.”

Tottenham Hotspur formally submitted its plans for Whitewebbs in April, with the “regionally significant” women’s training academy on the northern half of the former golf course set to take up 18% of the total park area, while an area of “historic parkland” would be created on the southern half. The pitches would be surrounded by a two-metre high fence and natural hedging.

While two of the pitches would have floodlights, the plans state the lights would be switched on for a maximum of twelve hours per week, and while 121 trees would be felled, an additional 3,000 would be planted alongside the creation of “wildflower meadows, bat and bird boxes, and a new biodiversity corridor”.

The 25-year park lease to Spurs, which is worth £2m to the council, will only go ahead if the plans win permission, with a decision expected later this year. The football club was selected by the council as the preferred bidder to take on the lease after a public procurement process conducted in 2019 and 2020, with the Tottenham Hotspur bid said to meet the council’s ambition to “secure the future of the site” because of its “aspirations for enhanced access to nature and improved public facilities”.

Tottenham Hotspur and the council both declined to comment in response to this story.

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