A RESIDENT who fought for three years to stop Barnet Football Club building a new stadium at Copthall has said she is “totally disgusted” with new plans for the site.

Yesterday Saracens RFC put forward proposals to pump £10m into the ailing athletics stadium and turn it into a 10,000 seater home ground, which would also be used by the community.

Similar plans put forward by Barnet more than a decade ago were thrown out by the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott after a bitter battle with the Copthall Area Residents' Association (CARA).

Angela Whyte, one of the founding members of CARA, said she feared the new plans were just a replication of the old ones.

She told the Times Series: “These plans seem to me nearly the same as the Barnet ones. I'm not a bit surprised the council has gone for it, they need to plug a hole in their accounts.

“That land was given to the public in perpetuity, it should remain in public hands, not be handed over to some elitist private enterprise.

“This land is the green belt and it should be protected, not paved over. It is the lungs of London.”

Ms Whyte, 75, who lived in the Great North Way, but has since moved to Southfields, said the council spent hundreds of thousands of pounds during the protracted three-year battle over the Barnet plans.

She was also sceptical about the promises made by club chairman Nigel Wray, himself a Mill Hill resident, about the land being used by community teams and clubs, as well as a maximum of 16 times a season by Saracens.

She added: “Promises are cheap, but it's actually sticking to them that means something. The poor people living around there will be stuck between the Great North Road and a stadium.

“I'm not surprised Tony Kleanthous (Barnet FC chairman) is furious, it looks as though the council has chosen the rugby club over them.

“I hope the people around there stand up for themselves again.”

At a press conference yesterday the club promised to put together a transport strategy and said they would look to create satellite car parks for match days, which could make local schools and club money.

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