Lewisham councillors have officially backed a call for an independent inquiry into the New Bermondsey development and Millwall Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) decision after false funding claims.

At the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting last night, January 23, non-executive councillors backed councillor Alan Hall’s calls for the independent inquiry.

This follows revelations that the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation, who is central to the overall development, were making false claims of having a £2 million funding agreement from Sport England.

The development is on land that surrounds Millwall Football Club’s stadium the Den, which is set to be developed by off-shore company Renewal.

Millwall FC had said that they could be forced to relocate if Lewisham council push the redevelopment plans through.

Cllr Hall said: “Lewisham Councillors have backed my call for a full independent inquiry into the Compulsory Purchase Orders and other key matters surrounding the issue.

“Furthermore, given the nature and seriousness of longstanding concerns over the CPO, heightened by false funding claims, Lewisham’s Cabinet should now back our call-in and overturn their original decision to take Millwall’s land.”

The Charity Commission, who regulate the activities of charities in the UK, have confirmed that they have opened a case to receive information about the false funding claim.

Councillor Damien Egan said: "I strongly believe that Lewisham is the home of Millwall Football Club. We’re proud to have Millwall here and we appreciate all the great work that the Club and Community Trust do in the wider community. 

"I don’t think it is acceptable that the public still have questions as to who the financial beneficiaries of the Renewal scheme are, I think this is information we should now be asking of all developers.

"The allegations in The Guardian in the past week about misleading claims of Sports England funding are serious and, in my opinion, completely undermine Renewal’s credibility. Lewisham Council have opened up an investigation into these allegations."

Lewisham political group People Before Profit have launched a petition calling for the resignation of Steve Bullock and deputy mayor Alan Smith.

Surrey Canal Sports Foundation, of which Steve Bullock is a trustee, claimed that they had confirmed the funding with Sports England, however the application was withdrawn in 2013 and no further application has been made.

A post on their website on March 22 last year states ‘Sport England pledge £2m towards facilities’.

The sports foundation website has been taken down since the false claim was revealed in an investigation by The Guardian newspaper.

Steve Norris, Chair of the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation (SCSF) said: “The Surrey Canal Sports Foundation approached Sport England in 2011 to seek a £2 million funding commitment for the proposed sports facilities at New Bermondsey.

“Our initial application was placed onto Sport England's Iconic Facilities Fund. In October 2013 we received a formal letter from Sport England which referenced their ongoing support for the project and that the application was now being moved onto the Strategic Facilities Fund.

“Whilst the SCSF has made significant progress over the past four years we have not progressed a more formal application since October 2013 due to the inordinate length of the Compulsory Purchase Order process and ongoing land assembly led by Renewal.

“We are still awaiting the outcome of the CPO process but following this we intend to re-engage Sport England and will be making a formal application for funding in the coming weeks.”

A Sport England spokesman said: “In 2010 we received a funding application from the Surrey Canal Sports Foundation, but this was subsequently withdrawn in 2013. We therefore have no funding agreement, of any kind, in place with them.”