Arsenal get stadium go ahead after residents challenge rejected

Arsenal Football Club can now begin work on the new stadium at Ashburton Grove after the High Court rejected a challenge from local residents.

It was the final hurdle for the north London team who had already got support from Islington Council, mayor Ken Livingstone and former secretary of state for trade and industry Stephen Byers.
 
Although the 60,000 seater stadium will bring extra jobs, better transport links and a new waste disposal centre to the Ashburton Grove area, critics included local residents and the many businesses which would have to have been moved to accommodate the new ground.

The Islington Stadium Communities Alliance lodged the complaint with the court as one final chance of halting the development before it gets underway, but their claims that the club's environmental impact study was inadequate was rejected.

That means the club can now press ahead with work on the £250m stadium, which it is hoped will be ready in time for the 2004/05 season.