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The leader of Enfield council is under pressure to recuse himself from decisions over the property plans of Tottenham Hotspur, after accepting match tickets days before the felling of an ancient oak by a company financially linked to the football club.
Labour’s Ergin Erbil has been the public voice of the council’s outrage at the felling on 3 April of a 500-year-old ancient oak by contractors for Mitchells & Butlers Retail (MBR), the pub chain that runs a Toby Carvery on land leased from the London borough.
In a declaration on gifts and hospitality Erbil disclosed that on 23 March he accepted five free tickets from Spurs’ charity arm, the Tottenham Hotspur FC Foundation, to watch a friendly veterans match between the club and AC Milan.
Spurs and MBR are majority-owned by the investment company Enic. Last month the Guardian revealed Spurs had an option to lease from MBR the land where the remains of the felled tree are.
In February, Enfield granted Spurs outline planning permission to build a women’s football training academy on 17 hectares of adjacent land on a former golf course on Whitewebbs Park. The club plans to rent the land involved from the council in a £2m deal.
During the match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which Spurs legends won 6-2, Erbil chatted to the club’s executive, Donna-Maria Cullen, but he said he was not lobbied by the club and they did not discuss the Whitewebbs development or the lease option on the Toby Carvery site.
Erbil and another Enfield councillor accepted the tickets after planning permission was granted to Spurs for the Whitewebbs development – a decision in which neither councillor was involved.
Erbil said any suggestion of a link between his attendance at the game and the felling of the oak “veers into conspiracy theory territory”.
He said: “I reject the idea that attending a charity event with other community stakeholders compromises my integrity. The event had no connection to council business and no bearing on any future decisions involving Spurs or MBR.”
But campaigners said the hospitality raised questions about the relationship between Spurs and the council and urged Erbil to recuse himself from future decisions involving the club property plans in the borough.
Ed Allnutt, the secretary of Guardians of Whitewebbs, a group campaigning to retain the area as a public park, said: “Erbil claims a lack of involvement in the development of the park. This is not credible. It is a major development in the borough where he leads the council. Our understanding is that in his role, he will have to sign off on the S106 conditions for the Spurs plans. Will he recuse himself from this responsibility?”
A Labour London spokesperson said Erbil would recuse himself from any possible future decisions on the development and any potential switch of the land leased by Mitchells & Butlers to Spurs.
But Erbil said such decisions were matters for his colleagues on the planning committee and the property and legal team. A spokesperson for Enfield council said: “Erbil has acted with integrity and transparency throughout. We are not going to get into speculation about whether he would recuse himself from hypothetical situations sometime in the future.”
Tree specialists commissioned by Spurs last year, as part of its Whitewebbs development, concluded that the Toby Carvery oak was a “fine specimen” that would live for at least another 50 years. MBR said it was felled for safety reasons as it was dead or diseased – a claim rejected by campaigners and experts who this week valued the tree at £960,000 due to its ecological importance.
Spurs’ tree survey suggested the oak was on council-owned land outside the area leased by MBR. Erbil said his officers had “100% confirmed” the felled tree was on council land leased by MBR.
He said: “The idea that the tree was removed to facilitate a future road for Spurs is factually wrong and geographically implausible.”
He added: “Enfield council is taking legal action against Mitchells & Butlers for cutting down the tree without permission, which breached their lease. As a result, the council has stopped accepting rent from them.”
Under the terms of the lease, MBR committed to protecting landscape and to only carry out works to trees with the permission of the council, which it did not seek before felling the oak.
A separate Forestry Commission inquiry into the felling of the tree is taking place.
A Spurs spokesperson said the charity match Erbil attended raised money for its foundation that promotes local projects on wellbeing, employment and education.
