16 Jan 2018
Chelsea's £1bn stadium plan overcomes family injunction threat
BY Rob Gibson
The £1bn ($1.38bn, €1.12bn) project to rebuild Chelsea Football Club’s Stamford Bridge stadium has overcome its final hurdle, after a motion was passed preventing a local family from blocking the proposed plans.
The Crosthwaite family, whose house is the closest residence to the ground, took out an injunction under their ‘right to light’, stating that a redeveloped East Stand would restrict daylight coming into their home.
But at a meeting yesterday (15 January), Hammersmith and Fulham Council agreed to a recommendation to acquire the area of land at Stamford Bridge, which ensures the injunction is not valid as the family cannot take the council to the High Court.
The 60,000 stadium, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, was granted planning permission a year ago and has already been signed off by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
While the family could yet seek a judicial review, Chelsea are now in a position to instruct the council to take control of the land and lease it back to the club – if the Crosthwaites cannot agree to a deal from the club, as other residents have.
Due to the scale of the project and the redevelopment of transport link to neighbouring Fulham Broadway tube station, construction is expected to take up to four years from 2019, with Chelsea likely to play at Wembley in the interim.
The cost of the project was initially £500m (US$687.8m, €562.6m) but reports in November said internal discussions at the club put the figure closer to £1bn ($1.38bn, €1.12bn).
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