The head of the Enfield council is facing mounting pressure to step aside from discussions regarding the development plans for Tottenham Hotspur, following his acceptance of match tickets just days before the removal of a historic oak tree by a company with financial ties to the football club.
Labour councillor Ergin Erbil has vocally expressed the council’s indignation over the April 3 removal of a 500-year-old oak by contractors working for Mitchells & Butlers Retail (MBR), the pub chain operating a Toby Carvery on land leased from the local borough.
In a gifts and hospitality disclosure, Erbil noted that he received five complimentary tickets from the Tottenham Hotspur FC Foundation on March 23 to attend a veterans’ friendly match against AC Milan.
Spurs and MBR are primarily owned by the investment firm Enic. A recent report revealed that Spurs have an option to lease the land where the remains of the felled oak are located.
Earlier this year, Enfield council granted Spurs outline permission to establish a women’s football training academy on 17 hectares of nearby former golf course land at Whitewebbs Park. The plan involves renting the land from the council in a deal worth £2 million.
During the match at Tottenham’s stadium, which ended in a 6-2 victory for the Spurs legends, Erbil conversed with the club’s executive, Donna-Maria Cullen, but asserted that there was no lobbying from the club and that their discussion did not cover the Whitewebbs project or the lease options related to the Toby Carvery site.
Erbil and another council member accepted the tickets following the approval of Spurs’ planning application for the Whitewebbs development, a decision in which neither councillor participated.
He dismissed any insinuations linking his attendance at the match to the tree’s removal as “bordering on conspiracy theory.”
Erbil stated, “I reject the notion that attending a charitable event with other local stakeholders undermines my integrity. The event wasn’t related to council affairs and did not influence any upcoming decisions regarding Spurs or MBR.”
However, activists have raised concerns about the hospitality received and its implications for the relationship between the club and the council, urging Erbil to withdraw from any future decisions regarding the club’s development plans within the borough.
Ed Allnutt, secretary of the Guardians of Whitewebbs, a group advocating for the area to remain a public park, remarked, “Erbil asserts he has no stake in the park’s development. This lacks credibility. It’s a significant project in the borough he oversees. We understand that, in his position, he will need to authorize the S106 conditions for the Spurs plans. Will he step back from this duty?”
A Labour spokesperson in London indicated that Erbil would refrain from any future decisions related to the development and any potential land transfer from MBR to Spurs.
Despite this, Erbil maintained that such decisions are in the jurisdiction of his colleagues on the planning committee and the property and legal teams. An Enfield council spokesperson added, “Erbil has acted with integrity and transparency throughout. We won’t engage in speculation about whether he would recuse himself from hypothetical future situations.”
Last year, tree specialists hired by Spurs as part of the Whitewebbs project assessed the Toby Carvery oak as a “fine specimen” expected to thrive for at least another 50 years. MBR claimed the tree was removed for safety reasons, citing it as dead or diseased, a statement challenged by activists and experts who recently appraised the tree’s ecological value at £960,000.
Spurs’ tree survey indicated the oak was located on council-owned land outside MBR’s leased area. Erbil countered, asserting that his officials had “100% confirmed” the felled tree was indeed on council land leased by MBR.
Erbil contended, “The notion that the tree was taken down to clear space for a future road for Spurs is factually incorrect and geographically implausible.”
He mentioned, “Enfield council is pursuing legal action against Mitchells & Butlers for the unauthorized tree removal, which violated their lease agreement. Consequently, the council has ceased rent payments from them.”
According to the lease terms, MBR was obliged to safeguard the landscape and to seek the council’s consent before undertaking any tree maintenance, which they failed to do prior to removing the oak.
A separate inquiry by the Forestry Commission into the tree’s removal is currently underway.
A Spurs representative stated that the charity match Erbil attended helped raise funds for the foundation, which supports local initiatives focused on wellbeing, employment, and education.
