As part of my daily trawl through SSC (it's not the joy that it once was), I came across this article from the excellent poster, Norskire who is extremely well informed on local matters and will be on the money here, so the HRW development is back on...
"Lendlease, who had threatened to sue Haringey Council over the council's abandonment of the greater HDV scheme, yesterday capitulated (or "reached a settlement" as their PR people put it) and have settled for the option of being restricted to the HRW scheme - which is therefore back on track now and scheduled to begin "imminently" (according to one Council member who wished to remain anonymous when interviewed yesterday). The reason for this anonymity wish is most likely because the whole issue of resettlement and compensation for the High Road businesses affected, 24 of whom now face sudden eviction again and probably as early as between now and Christmas, has yet to be even brought up at council and - to be honest - Lendlease's track record when it comes to how they go about this issue doesn't auger well for small business owners caught between them realising a profit and hope of a fair hearing.
But that aside, it means that the greater stadium area redevelopment is now about to go into sudden overdrive and we can expect a flurry of planning applications related to the demolition of the Love Lane buildings which, I'm told, will be regarded as "phase one" of the project. By the time the stadium itself opens for business it could well be the case that anyone coming in via White Hart Lane station will be funnelled down the lane as the only pedestrian approach from that side for quite a while yet. It is also anticipated that redevlopment of the High Road frontage will necessitate closing pedestrian access to that side of the street for a very long period too."
I appreciate that there's more than one side to this and long-standing businesses will close, including Chick King, but for the club's plans this is an enormous leap forward. In its current state, it was hard to see an NFL franchise being too keen on setting up home in the stadium's surroundings and it left the hotel and premium flats very isolated.
With the HRW development back on, the plan is very much back on track and following the Wembley sale collapse, a huge further boost to the club's current and future investment in the area. For those keen to see the departure of ENIC, any future sale of the club will be massively more likely in the light of this development. Future investment will aalmost certainly come from outsidethe UK and Europe and such investors will want to see surroundings befitting a multi-billion pound investment.
