I have now managed a speed read of the 3 applications before the planning sub-committee on Mon 13 Feb at 7pm. Don’t forget the meeting is to WebCast for those interested.
First up from Spurs interest is to be a review of the S106 expenditure agreed and placed on THFC at the last Application. This came to £16.45m plus unspecified costs, which would have taken the cost beyond £20m, since the original approval an additional cost of £440kwas added to the package. All the specified costs apart from approx £400k have been wiped out and are now being dealt with by the Mayor and/or Haringey council and Tfl.. The unspecified costs are still being borne by Spurs, but this is in reality a saving of £16.5m to the club. The type of unspecified costing being left to the club is e.g. footfall surveys. The Club state that even with the increased capacity that of the number of people making the journey to WHL for matches that 77% journeys will be by foot i.e. non car/coach etc. Spurs are to pay for an survey on completion of phase 2 to prove the % figure is met for 5 consecutive years or else make a financial contribution towards the improvement of public transport – cost unspecified.
The argument here and supported by the Council Planning Officers, is that the scheme as approved now has a funding gap and is not financially viable anymore, and these re-submissions are to make the NDP viable. The NDP is to act as a catalyst for further regeneration in a wider area but to receive investor confidence additional public funds is required to make the area and highways more attractive to said investors etc. The NDP is central to much of this, and so has to be made financially viable. The funding gap is explained in detail in paragraphs 4.12 to 4.20 of the S106 submission document.
The Council hired Grant Thornton and BNP Paribas to independently check/audit the figures presented by Spurs. Grant Thornton audit of the whole NDP scheme came to the conclusion that the previous plan is no longer viable, and that the new application as a whole, has a reasonable prospect of affordability and is deliverable. They are constrained by commercial confidentiality to publically show all the figures/plans provided by Spurs in their report. BNP Paribas looked into the southern development in particular and came to the same conclusion.
The increase housing and commercial space (south), and flexible commercial space (north) will provide an increase to the realisable value to help fund the stadium build. The revised S106 costs will help reduce the cost of the project. Alternative funding e.g. Naming rights will still be required, and the public investment to the area will increase 3rd party investor confidence not only to the Stadium funding (loans/Bonds etc), but also to the wider area.
In south development the flats are increased from 200 to 285 and no hotel (?). All the flats are now to be of 1 or 2 bedrooms and all are to be at Open Market Value i.e. NO affordable housing. The housing mix and no affordable housing go against the London Plan but without this the project is not financially viable, and this is confirmed by BNP Paribas and so has the support of the planning officers – otherwise the project is as dead as the Dodo (my words).
The Southern application is for Outline approval only, but even so the Design Panel are not happy with the overall design, stating that it looks unimaginative and that the materials and finishing of the blocks are not of sufficient quality – compared to the stadium, and the over-hang looks ugly. They referred to the N5 Stadium and flats as an example of simple yet stylish quality (oh dear!).
The new design does offer a bigger Plaza behind the retained listed buildings (Warmington Hse etc). The podium is reduced in size with the flats now only 30m away instead of 40m, still room for a public space to be utilised and an ice rink the size of a centre circle is to be retained. The was no mention of the ticket booth/pods, but they have disappeared from the plans?
The Northern Development is a FULL Approval application for a large food-store with additional flexible educational, stadium office, show-room cum brand-centre above. The brand-centre is a space where sponsor or clients can show-off or display their wares, but not sell, during matches, exhibitions, conferences etc. The Sky Bar is gone but there is now floors stepped back from each other as they rise in ‘T’ shape. This provides a further 4,415 Sq m of flexible use space.
One again the revised Northern plan is integral in making the whole project viable, but once again the Design panel is not happy as this re-vamp does not inspire confidence with a lack of detail use of the space above the food-store. They also recommend that the supermarket is not started first. The planning officers disagree.
If approved, the programme is as follows:
Phase 1 (North) start Autumn2012 finish 2014
Phase 2 (Stadium) 2013 – 2016
Phase 3 (South) 2016 – 2019
Conclusion: The revised plans are to:
1. Revise the S106 expenditure to reduce substantially the funding obligation on THFC – Mayor Boris to pay Haringey Council £3.5 for related highway work over and above previous agreement.
2. Tfl – improve passenger capacity at Tottenham Hale – Mayor Boris to provide funding of £3.5 towards this.
3. Increase development value by the addition of increase commercial floor space above food-store in Phase 1, and additional homes and commercial space during phase 3.
4. All housing in Phase 3 to be at Open Market Value not a mix with affordable housing thereby increasing realisable value.
5. Provision of £10.5m public sector funding towards wider area commercial elements related to the NDP for further regeneration therefore increasing investor confidence in the area in general and the NDP in particular.
6. Improved pedestrian link with a boulevardisation of Whitehall Street from a new southern entrance to the WHL station to the new THFC stadium – funded by Mayor Boris as agreed.
7. Greater number of non-football events at the new stadium (no figures given)
Lastly, please note the covering letter to the Southern development application states ‘The amended southern development is still intended to interlock with the approved stadium and its podium but a series of consequential and other modifications to the stadium and podium will be the subject of a separate application’ So it looks like there is to be some alteration to the stadium plans after all (increased capacity perhaps?)
You can see various plans/images of the proposed northern development Here:
http://www.planningservices.haringey.go ... ame=424954
and of the southern development:
http://www.planningservices.haringey.go ... ame=425081
First up from Spurs interest is to be a review of the S106 expenditure agreed and placed on THFC at the last Application. This came to £16.45m plus unspecified costs, which would have taken the cost beyond £20m, since the original approval an additional cost of £440kwas added to the package. All the specified costs apart from approx £400k have been wiped out and are now being dealt with by the Mayor and/or Haringey council and Tfl.. The unspecified costs are still being borne by Spurs, but this is in reality a saving of £16.5m to the club. The type of unspecified costing being left to the club is e.g. footfall surveys. The Club state that even with the increased capacity that of the number of people making the journey to WHL for matches that 77% journeys will be by foot i.e. non car/coach etc. Spurs are to pay for an survey on completion of phase 2 to prove the % figure is met for 5 consecutive years or else make a financial contribution towards the improvement of public transport – cost unspecified.
The argument here and supported by the Council Planning Officers, is that the scheme as approved now has a funding gap and is not financially viable anymore, and these re-submissions are to make the NDP viable. The NDP is to act as a catalyst for further regeneration in a wider area but to receive investor confidence additional public funds is required to make the area and highways more attractive to said investors etc. The NDP is central to much of this, and so has to be made financially viable. The funding gap is explained in detail in paragraphs 4.12 to 4.20 of the S106 submission document.
The Council hired Grant Thornton and BNP Paribas to independently check/audit the figures presented by Spurs. Grant Thornton audit of the whole NDP scheme came to the conclusion that the previous plan is no longer viable, and that the new application as a whole, has a reasonable prospect of affordability and is deliverable. They are constrained by commercial confidentiality to publically show all the figures/plans provided by Spurs in their report. BNP Paribas looked into the southern development in particular and came to the same conclusion.
The increase housing and commercial space (south), and flexible commercial space (north) will provide an increase to the realisable value to help fund the stadium build. The revised S106 costs will help reduce the cost of the project. Alternative funding e.g. Naming rights will still be required, and the public investment to the area will increase 3rd party investor confidence not only to the Stadium funding (loans/Bonds etc), but also to the wider area.
In south development the flats are increased from 200 to 285 and no hotel (?). All the flats are now to be of 1 or 2 bedrooms and all are to be at Open Market Value i.e. NO affordable housing. The housing mix and no affordable housing go against the London Plan but without this the project is not financially viable, and this is confirmed by BNP Paribas and so has the support of the planning officers – otherwise the project is as dead as the Dodo (my words).
The Southern application is for Outline approval only, but even so the Design Panel are not happy with the overall design, stating that it looks unimaginative and that the materials and finishing of the blocks are not of sufficient quality – compared to the stadium, and the over-hang looks ugly. They referred to the N5 Stadium and flats as an example of simple yet stylish quality (oh dear!).
The new design does offer a bigger Plaza behind the retained listed buildings (Warmington Hse etc). The podium is reduced in size with the flats now only 30m away instead of 40m, still room for a public space to be utilised and an ice rink the size of a centre circle is to be retained. The was no mention of the ticket booth/pods, but they have disappeared from the plans?
The Northern Development is a FULL Approval application for a large food-store with additional flexible educational, stadium office, show-room cum brand-centre above. The brand-centre is a space where sponsor or clients can show-off or display their wares, but not sell, during matches, exhibitions, conferences etc. The Sky Bar is gone but there is now floors stepped back from each other as they rise in ‘T’ shape. This provides a further 4,415 Sq m of flexible use space.
One again the revised Northern plan is integral in making the whole project viable, but once again the Design panel is not happy as this re-vamp does not inspire confidence with a lack of detail use of the space above the food-store. They also recommend that the supermarket is not started first. The planning officers disagree.
If approved, the programme is as follows:
Phase 1 (North) start Autumn2012 finish 2014
Phase 2 (Stadium) 2013 – 2016
Phase 3 (South) 2016 – 2019
Conclusion: The revised plans are to:
1. Revise the S106 expenditure to reduce substantially the funding obligation on THFC – Mayor Boris to pay Haringey Council £3.5 for related highway work over and above previous agreement.
2. Tfl – improve passenger capacity at Tottenham Hale – Mayor Boris to provide funding of £3.5 towards this.
3. Increase development value by the addition of increase commercial floor space above food-store in Phase 1, and additional homes and commercial space during phase 3.
4. All housing in Phase 3 to be at Open Market Value not a mix with affordable housing thereby increasing realisable value.
5. Provision of £10.5m public sector funding towards wider area commercial elements related to the NDP for further regeneration therefore increasing investor confidence in the area in general and the NDP in particular.
6. Improved pedestrian link with a boulevardisation of Whitehall Street from a new southern entrance to the WHL station to the new THFC stadium – funded by Mayor Boris as agreed.
7. Greater number of non-football events at the new stadium (no figures given)
Lastly, please note the covering letter to the Southern development application states ‘The amended southern development is still intended to interlock with the approved stadium and its podium but a series of consequential and other modifications to the stadium and podium will be the subject of a separate application’ So it looks like there is to be some alteration to the stadium plans after all (increased capacity perhaps?)
You can see various plans/images of the proposed northern development Here:
http://www.planningservices.haringey.go ... ame=424954
and of the southern development:
http://www.planningservices.haringey.go ... ame=425081
