Judge Nails Spurs’ Stadium Challenge

Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient have a week to lodge an appeal, after Mr. Justice Davis blocked the soccer clubs’ challenge to West Ham United’s tenancy of the new Olympic Stadium.

London Mayor Boris Johnson and the government ratified the Olympic Park Legacy Company’s recommendation that the Hammers should get the ground March 3.

Spurs and Orient immediately began their various protests, largely based on Newham Council’s decision to lend £40 million to a joint venture it’s formed with West Ham to help pay to convert and run the building.

They say that without the loan the West Ham deal wouldn’t stack up financially and the council’s decision to grant it breaches EC laws barring state aid for private companies.

But Judge Davis rejected four separate applications – two from each club – for a judicial review. He is understood to have rejected the argument that the Newham Council loan amounted to illegal state aid.

A fifth application lodged by Orient is expected to be considered within ten days.

Judge Davis also knocked back Tottenham’s claim that the OPLC had acted with a bias towards West Ham.