The plan to seize League One side Millwall’s land around The Den "has been left hanging by a thread after it emerged that Lewisham Labour councilors are in open revolt" against the compulsory purchase order scheme, according to Barney Ronay of the London GUARDIAN. On Monday night, 45 of the borough’s 54 elected representatives backed scrutiny councilor Alan Hall’s "call for the seizure of Millwall’s land to be submitted to an independent inquiry." The vote was followed on Tuesday morning by the news that councilor Damien Egan, the Labour cabinet member responsible for housing, announced publicly that he can "no longer support the scheme because of serious doubts over the council’s chosen developer partner, Renewal." Given Egan’s position as "effectively the sponsor of the housing scheme, and a long-term backer, it is extremely difficult to see how the CPO of Millwall’s land can continue in its current form." In a "further snowballing of the revolt against the Renewal-backed scheme," another "influential" Labour councilor also condemned the plans to evict Millwall and its community trust. Brenda Dacres, the elected councilor for the area around The Den, said that the council must now "go back to the drawing board." The "apparent disintegration of the scheme will be a source of huge encouragement both to Millwall," which is "desperate to be involved in the regeneration plans," and the club's fans, "in particular the Millwall AMS supporters' group, which has fought fiercely against the scheme" (GUARDIAN, 1/24).
