page_title: Emirates Stadium
section_title: Site selection and development proposals
hierarchical_section_title: Emirates Stadium / History / Site selection and development proposals
caption_attribution_description: English: Acquired for Arsenal Stadium development.
context_page_description: The Emirates Stadium is a football stadium in Highbury, England, and the home of Arsenal. With a capacity of 60,704 it is the fourth-largest football stadium in England after Wembley Stadium, Old Trafford and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
  In 1997, Arsenal explored the possibility of relocating to a new stadium, having been denied planning permission by Islington Council to expand its home stadium, Highbury. After considering various options, the club bought an industrial and waste disposal estate in Ashburton Grove in 2000. A year later, they received the council's approval to build a stadium on the site; manager Arsène Wenger described this as the "biggest decision in Arsenal's history" since the board appointed Herbert Chapman. Relocation began in 2002, but financial difficulties delayed work until February 2004. Emirates was later announced as the main sponsor for the stadium. The entire stadium project was completed in 2006 at a cost of £390 million. The club's former stadium was redeveloped as Highbury Square, an apartment complex.
  The stadium has undergone a process of "Arsenalisation" since 2009 with the aim of restoring Arsenal's heritage and history.
context_section_description: In November 1999, Arsenal examined the feasibility of building a new stadium in Ashburton Grove. Anthony Spencer, estate agent and club property adviser, recommended the area to director Danny Fiszman and vice-chairman David Dein having scoured over North London for potential areas. The land, 450 metres (490 yd) from Highbury was composed of a rubbish processing plant and industrial estate, 80% owned to varying levels by Islington Council, Railtrack and Sainsbury's. After passing the first significant milestone at Islington Council's planning committee, Arsenal submitted a planning application for a new-build 60,000 seater stadium in November 2000. This included a redevelopment project at Drayton Park, converting the existing ground Highbury to flats and building a new waste station in Lough Road. As part of the scheme, Arsenal intended to create 1,800 new jobs for the community and 2,300 new homes. Improvements to three railway stations, Holloway Road, Drayton Park and Finsbury Park, were included to cope with the increased capacity requirements from matchday crowds.
  Islington Stadium Communities Alliance (ISCA) – an alliance of 16 groups representing local residents and businesses, was set up in January 2000 as a body against the redevelopment. Alison Carmichael, a spokeswoman for the group, said of the move, "It may look like Arsenal are doing great things for the area, but in its detail the plan is awful. We blame the council; the football club just wants to expand to make more money." Tom Lamb, an ISCA member, was concerned about as air pollution and growing traffic, adding "that is a consequence which most Arsenal fans would never see, because they are in Islington only for about thirty days a year."
  Seven months after the planning application was submitted, a poll showed that 75% of respondents (2,133 residents) were against the scheme. By October 2001, the club asserted that a poll of Islington residents found that 70% were in favour, and received the backing from the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. The club launched a campaign to aid the project in the run up to Christmas and planted the slogan 
  "Let Arsenal support Islington" on advertising hoardings and in the backdrop of manager Arsène Wenger's press conferences.
  Islington Council approved Arsenal's planning application on 10 December 2001, voting in favour of the Ashburton Grove development. The council also consented to the transfer of the existing waste recycling plant in Ashburton Grove to Lough Road. Livingstone approved of the plans a month later, and it was then motioned to then-Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, who initially delayed making a final decision. He had considered whether to refer the scheme to a public inquiry, but eventually decided not to. Planning permission was granted by Islington Council in May 2002, but local residents and ISCA launched a late challenge to the High Court, citing the plans were against the law. Duncan Ouseley dismissed the case in July 2002, paving the way for Arsenal to start work.
  The club succeeded in a further legal challenge bought by small firms in January 2005 as the High Court upheld a decision by then-Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to grant a compulsory purchase order in support of the scheme. The stadium later became issue in the local elections in May 2006. The Metropolitan Police restricted supporters' coaches to being parked in the nearby Sobel Sports Centre rather than in the underground stadium car park, and restricted access to 14 streets on match days. These police restrictions were conditions of the stadiums' health and safety certificate which the stadium requires to operate and open. The road closures were passed at a council meeting in July 2005.
caption: A board displaying the acquisition of the Ashburton Grove site for the stadium development.
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