A landlord has been accused of "holding Brentford FC to ransom" over its new stadium.
First Industrial Ltd (FIL) owns the last parcel of land needed for the Championship side's new 20,000-seat arena and surrounding homes planned for Lionel Road South, near Kew Bridge station.
It has objected to a compulsory purchase order by Hounslow Council to secure the plot, known as Capital Court site.
A two-week public inquiry into the firm's appeal, being held at Brentford Free Church, began on Tuesday (September 8).
James Maurici QC, representing the council, said in his opening statement that the land was needed for the stadium to go ahead, securing the club's future in the borough.
He said FIL had reneged on two agreements to sell its land to Brentford FC and now wanted to develop the land itself in partnership with the club - something he explained the club was not prepared to do due to a "lack of trust" in the company.
"This late change of position is, it will be contended, motivated by a desire to defeat the order (CPO) and then seek to hold the club to ransom," he told the inquiry, chaired by David Prentis.
"As FIL's own solicitors put it very frankly in their letter of May 19 2015 for FIL 'the issue is purely one of value'.
"FIL's object here is thus plainly to up the amount of money it obtains for its land."
The council's regeneration director Brendon Walsh and its town planner Shane Baker told the inquiry the scheme was consistent with council policy and would aid the regeneration of the area, where they said some neighbourhoods are among the most deprived in Britain.
'Opportunistic'
Russell Harris QC, representing Brentford FC, said: "Suggestions by FIL that it could itself provide a development which would achieve the same regenerative out-turns are new, opportunistic and lack consistency and credibility."
The inquiry heard that Brentford FC has already secured 86% of the land needed for the planned development and the plot at the centre of the inquiry is home to a vacant office block.
The council is due to continue making its case until Thursday this week.
The inquiry will then hear from the Green Dragon Lane Housing Cooperative (GDLHC), a collection of 75 households opposing the planned development, on Thursday afternoon (September 10), before a site visit on Friday (September 11).
FIL will put forward its arguments from Monday (September 14), with the hearing scheduled to conclude on Friday (September 18).
Brentford FC secured planning permission in December 2013 for the new stadium and 910 homes on surrounding land, which it claims are needed to fund the arena.
The club hopes to begin work on the site by the end of this year, subject to the outcome of the inquiry, and to move into its new home in autumn 2018.
It says it is operating at a loss and struggling to compete financially with its rivals because its current Griffin Park stadium generates too little income.
'Extra traffic could increase journey times by up to 147%'
Representatives from The Kew Society and West Chiswick & Gunnersbury Society were both at the first day of the hearing.
Both groups, which object to the scale of housing proposed, have submitted written evidence to the inquiry but neither is due to make verbal representations.
WCGS chairwoman Marie Rabouhans claims the high-rise housing will ruin the character of the surrounding area and says the only community benefit other than the club itself will be a climbing wall.
TKS chairwoman Caroline Brock said the group had commissioned an independent traffic study which showed the new homes would significantly add to congestion in the area at rush hour, increasing journey times by up to 147%.
The Friends of Stilehall Gardens, another local residents' group, has also submitted evidence claiming the planned development includes too few community benefits.
As well as FIL and GDLHC, six other statutory objectors were due to give verbal evidence at the inquiry.
But the council said it had resolved three of those objections, including those from Network Rail and South West Trains, and anticipated the remainder would be withdrawn following ongoing negotiations.
The club says expanding the stadium will allow its charitable arm Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, which runs activities in the community reaching some 150,000 participants a year, to increase its work by 50%.
It says other benefits will include new housing, more jobs and better links through the site, including a new bridge over the railway line.
Plans for 75 homes on the Griffin Park stadium site were recently approved and a reserved matters application for the first tranche of housing around the stadium is expected to go before the council's planning committee in October.
