Chelsea stadium boost as council agree to purchase land and lease it to Premier League club
Hammersmith & Fulham Council agree to Chelsea's lawyers' request - if deal can't be reached between club and Crosthwaite family
CHELSEA are a step closer to building a new stadium after the council agreed to buy the site.
A family fighting the building of Chelsea's new stadium are said to be demanding compensation of £20million.
But Hammersmith & Fulham Council have agreed to Blues' lawyers' request for the compulsory purchase of the site, then leasing it back to the Premier League champions, if a deal can't be reached between the club and the owners of 1-2 Stamford Cottages.
However, the battling Crosthwaite family could now go after a judicial review - although they can't take the council to the high court.
Retired banker Nicolas Crosthwaite, 69, wants the pay-off because the new stands will block out the light to his family home.
Fifty other homes will lose light but Chelsea are confident of agreeing payouts with their owners.
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Nicholas, interior designer wife Lucinda, 59, and their children Rose, 25, and Louis, 23, have reportedly been offered £1m.
But they are said to have asked for up to 20 times as much.
Blues owner Roman Abramovich is said to have blown his top when the family turned down the club's offer.
And it threatened to scupper Chelsea's plans to open the £1billion stadium in time for the 2023-24 season.
Nicholas has lived in his £4m cottage, just a long throw-in from Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground, for 50 years.
In May, his family took out a High Court injunction to block work on the replacement 165ft high, 60,000-capacity stadium.
In a letter to councillors, Rose said five rooms in their home would lose sunlight.
The council can override the injunction if the development is deemed essential for regeneration of the area. The family have argued that may be illegal and has vowed to fight on.