Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of building a new 58,000 capacity stadium in London have been given a major boost after the government approved a compulsory purchase order allowing building work to begin.

The club has been clearing space around White Hart Lane for the past two years and this announcement means that Spurs can finally start work on the project.

Tottenham has stated that the club will be able to move into the new stadium by 2017.

A statement from Spurs’ website reads: “The Club is pleased to announce that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has confirmed the Compulsory Purchase Order made by Haringey Council in respect of the remaining land required for the Northumberland Development Project. This is a very significant step in the CPO process.”

Spurs’ owner Daniel Levy has previously stated,

“Our current 36,000 seater stadium sells out and the waiting list for season ticket holders is currently in excess of 47,000.

“We cannot stress strongly enough how critical the new stadium is over the long-term to these raised expectations.

“We have the smallest capacity stadium of any club in the top 20 clubs in Europe, let alone the current top four Premier League clubs, and given we now operate within UEFA Financial Fair Play rules, an increased capacity stadium and associated revenues is fundamental to supporting the future ambitions and consistent achievement at the top of the game.

“The new stadium is a landmark project, of importance not just for our club, but to the regeneration of an area which has been our home for more than 132 years and to London as a whole.”

The Haringey Council’s plans are for new shops, a Wembley-style walkway, flats and hotels to go with Spurs’ new stadium.

These developments will undoubtedly inject more money into the club, which in theory should help Tottenham stake more of a claim to the Premier League’s top four and European football in the years to come.

Spurs have already bolstered their squad with the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid last summer. And following the conclusion of the 2013-14 Premier League season, Tottenham lured one of the brightest young managers in English football to north London, Mauricio Pochettino. So the immediate future looks bright for Spurs and their supporters.

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The downside to the stadium plans of development is the impact the new project will have on local lives and businesses.

Alan Strickland, a Haringey cabinet member for regeneration, commented on the council’s hopes in regards to the new plan’s effect on the residents living and working around White Hart Lane: “Our priority obviously is improving the lives and life chances of our local residents and improving a lot of our local businesses.”

But local residents, some of whom live above the businesses they own, will have to relocate because their property has been selected for demolition to make way for the proposed development plans.

Local businesses (both retail and industrial), some of which have been in existence for over 60 years, will be lost or relocated; all in the hopes that Tottenham Hotspur will be able to compete on a higher level of domestic and European football.

There is a saying that goes: “In order to achieve something, it is inevitable and necessary that something be destroyed.”

It appears that is the case in north London.

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