Chelsea reach settlement in last right of light issue holding up stadium development

Chelsea may not be moving on in this year’s Champions League after Wednesday night’s 3-0 defeat at the Camp Nou, but plans to redevelop Stamford Bridge are able to move forward after yesterday’s news that the club had reached an agreement with the family who were holding out in agreeing compensation for the new stadium encroaching on their right of light. A Chelsea spokesperson confirmed the good news in a brief statement.

“Chelsea FC have reached an agreement to settle the ongoing legal proceedings in relation to rights to light. The details of the agreement are confidential.”

Despite the confidential nature of the agreement, a standard proviso in such cases, The Sun speculate — and probably fairly safely in this case — that Chelsea and the family managed to settle on financial compensation somewhere between what the club were initially offering and what the family were demanding. This settlement comes two months after the local council passed a motion to prevent an injunction from the family that could’ve conceivably scuppered Chelsea’s plans. At that point, barring a successful appeal of the motion (they would not have been able to raise an actual injunction against the council itself), the family had no choice other than to agree some level of compensation.

Meanwhile, the consultation period for Chelsea’s purchase of 60 per cent of the neighboring Sir Oswald Stoll Mansions property ended last week, and their Board of Trustees are expected to render a decision based on that soon. Although not as critical to the stadium development as the right of light issues, the expanded footprint of the site could prove helpful as well, especially in improving access to Fulham-Broadway tube station.

The timeline for the new £1bn Stamford Bridge continues to forecast a move-out date of 2020 (with decking work to begin next summer, 2019, around the stadium itself) and a move-in date of 2024.