Football
PA Sport 10y

Tottenham announce delay to new stadium project

#INSERT type:image caption:Tottenham face a delay to the construction of their replacement for White Hart Lane. END#

Tottenham have said it is "highly unlikely" that they will be able to move into their planned new stadium for the start of the 2017-18 season after a High Court challenge was launched by one of the landowners on the site.

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Spurs want to construct a 56,250-seat stadium close to their current White Hart Lane home, and the government has approved a compulsory purchase order for the remaining unsecured land on the site.

However, the owner of a business on some of the land has begun a legal challenge to the approval -- and the delay caused means Spurs will have to find alternative accommodation for a season because of the revised construction timetable.

A statement on the club's official website said: "We should like to advise supporters that it is highly unlikely we shall be able to open the new stadium at the start of the 2017-18 season.

"The club has revised its construction programme in order to take the shortest possible time to construct. This now therefore involves the club moving away from the Lane during construction for a period of one season, to start at the beginning of a season in order to comply with Premier League rules.

"We are currently undertaking due diligence on alternative stadium options."

The delay stems from Spurs' inability to agree a settlement with the landowner despite seven years of negotiation.

"Archway Sheet Metal Works Ltd and the Josif Family have exercised their right to seek to challenge the secretary of state's decision in the High Court,'' Spurs said.

"We remain committed to finding the earliest possible resolution and shall continue to engage with Archway regarding a possible agreement reached by private treaty."

Spurs have long believed they need a new and bigger stadium in order to compete more effectively at the top of the Premier League and in Europe, and lost out to West Ham in a bid to move to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford in 2011.

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