High Court blocks approval for Tottenham women’s academy in London park

Tottenham Hotspur’s plan for a new women and girls’ football academy in a north London park suffered a legal setback on Monday, July 27, 2026, when the High Court quashed the local council’s planning approval.

Sir Tim Kerr ruled that Enfield councillors had not received all relevant information about the environmental impact of the proposed development in Whitewebbs Park. He found the omission serious and concluded that the planning outcome could have been different if the material had been available.

The proposal covered 6.5 hectares, or about 16 acres, and included 10 football pitches near Tottenham’s existing men’s training facilities. The club secured a 25-year lease for the site in 2023, and the council resolved to approve the planning application in February 2025.

Campaign group Guardians of Whitewebbs challenged the approval, arguing that councillors had been materially misled because an ecologist’s report was not properly disclosed. The report questioned claims that the project would benefit the local environment when roughly 40% of the park would be lost.

The judge rejected the campaigners’ separate allegation of possible bias, describing that argument as weak and saying cordial relations between the council and the club were normal given their overlapping interests.

Enfield Council had withdrawn its defence of the planning decision before the ruling. Tottenham continued to oppose the challenge, arguing that the result would have been the same even if the omitted information had been supplied. The ruling removes the existing approval and leaves any future version of the project dependent on further planning steps.