Labour council leader Ergin Erbil accepted five tickets to a legends match shortly after Tottenham Hotspur won planning approval for its training centre at Whitewebbs, reports James Cracknell
Enfield Council has dismissed a complaint over freebies handed to leader Ergin Erbil by Tottenham Hotspur shortly after the Premier League club won approval for its plans at Whitewebbs.
Last year Cllr Erbil accepted free tickets from Spurs in the months immediately following the decision by the council’s planning committee – which he does not sit on – to approve the club’s plans for a women’s and girls’ training centre at Whitewebbs Park.
The freebies were five tickets to a legend’s match in March 2025 and an invitation to join the victory parade in May following Spurs’ victory in the Europa League Final.
After the news of these gifts being declared by Cllr Erbil, Sam Gracie Tilbrook – from the Guardians of Whitewebbs campaign group which aims to stop Spurs building on the park – filed an official complaint with the council, alleging the freebies breached the members’ code of conduct.
The complaint was investigated by a governance advisor at the council, who issued his final complaint report last week following sign-off by the council’s monitoring officer and director of legal and governance, Terry Osborne.
The report, seen by the Dispatch, dismisses the complaint against Cllr Erbil. It states: “I find that Cllr Erbil declared the hospitality to the monitoring officer before accepting it and that acceptance of the hospitality was not a breach of the code in either instance.
“The code of conduct does not prohibit the acceptance of gifts and hospitality, and I find that advice was sought and followed and that the hospitality was properly recorded. I also find that it was not excessive in its likely value.”
Regarding the decision to approve the planning application from Tottenham Hotspur in the week’s prior to Cllr Erbil being offered and then accepting his freebies by the club, the report states: “Cllr Erbil was not a member of the planning committee and was not present at the meeting. In any event, the meeting took place before the events took place and before the hospitality was offered and accepted.
“I note that the planning permission was not issued until 22 July 2025, but I find that Cllr Erbil was not involved in the issuing of the permission and the permission was issued in accordance with the decision of the earlier committee meeting.”
The Guardians of Whitewebbs group is currently preparing for a judicial review challenge against the council’s decision to grant planning permission to Spurs. The case will be heard at the High Court in June.
Responding to the rejection of his complaint over Cllr Erbil’s freebies, Sam said: “Myself and the wider community perceive a bias and unfairness in relation to this and other matters which lends to a distrust of council processes and undermines faith in local democracy.”
Sam pointed to a part of the complaint report which suggests a council guidance note on gifts and hospitality received by councillors had “fallen into disuse” and, even though the complaint was still assessed against this guidance, the monitoring officer was now recommending that “the guidance referred to by the complainant should be revised and re-issued or withdrawn completely if it serves no useful purpose” and that this would be considered “in the coming months”.
Sam has now submitted an additional complaint, this time to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Cllr Erbil is the third successive Labour leader of the council to have accepted some kind of free ticket or hospitality gift from Spurs, going back over a decade, with Doug Taylor and Nesil Caliskan also having done so during their periods in charge from 2010-2018 and 2018-2024 respectively.
Asked to comment at the time of his first football freebie being revealed by the Dispatch last year, Cllr Erbil denied that Spurs had “purchased influence” with the council by handing out free gifts and added: “I acted transparently and in good faith, and I reject the idea that attending a charity event with other community stakeholders compromises my integrity.”
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