Spurs look to lawyers in 2012 fight

Published on Wednesday 30 March 2011 21:03

The battle for the Olympic Stadium was thrown back into the public spotlight yesterday after Tottenham took the first step towards mounting a legal challenge against the Olympic Park Legacy Company's (OPLC) decision to award the jewel in the 2012 crown to West Ham.

A bitter race between the two London rivals appeared to come to an end earlier this month when the OPLC's decision to choose the Hammers as preferred bidder was rubber-stamped by the Government and the Mayor of London. West Ham rejoiced after being handed the keys to the 537?million stadium, with the prospect of moving into their new 60,000 seater home for the 2013-14 season.

But the OPLC yesterday revealed that Spurs had sent it a "letter before action" - the first step on the road towards asking for a judge to look into the lawfulness of the committee's decision to rule in favour of West Ham in a judicial review.

OPLC issued a statement yesterday afternoon that said:"We have been consistent, fair, objective and entirely equal in our dealings. We are confident that if these judicial review proceedings are pursued, our approach will be entirely vindicated by the courts."