There have been some significant developments in the long-running saga of Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium. And as the prospect of this much-talked-about project finally materialising becomes more likely, fans’ hunger for information about and input into our Club’s new home grows. That presents the club, and the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, with some challenges.

The Club and its fans need the stadium – to meet demand for tickets and to help keep up with the competition. Building that stadium means meeting a complex set of regulations, and financing it means taking on risk and keeping demanding financial institutions happy. The Trust has been acutely conscious of this since we relaunched two years ago. We’ve sought information and input into the new stadium, but tried to balance this with making sure we don’t add to the risk around the project. We believe that’s the responsible stance Spurs fans want us to take.

One of the many difficulties the project throws up is balancing the interests of a number of different communities, who themselves often have different and conflicting demands and concerns. Our primary responsibility is to Spurs fans, but local residents and local businesses are also affected by what happens – as of course are the club’s current owners. Some might call us naïve, but we believe it is worth working to ensure all interests are properly represented so that the club continues to draw its strength and identity from the area in which it is located.

We’re happy to set out our position here.

• Fans would like to know when work on the new stadium will begin, and what exactly is being built. They would also like clarification on the naming rights issue and rumours of a tie-up with NFL or another sport.

• The Club has confirmed it will be necessary to move away from White Hart Lane for at least one season while rebuilding occurs, and we’ve accepted this is the course the Club is committed to. The overwhelming preference of Spurs fans is to relocate temporarily to Wembley.

So we would like confirmation that Wembley has been approached and that meaningful negotiations are happening. We do not believe such confirmation will jeopardise any chance of a deal.

• The Club has indicated Stadium MK is still on the agenda. We have stated our strong opposition to any such move because of the threat to THFC’s heritage and identity, the travel problems it will present for many fans, and the association with franchise football. We have said we will not enter discussions about theoretical situations, but while MK remains on the agenda there are two questions fans would like answered.

1 Has any approach been made to Stadium MK?

2 Is MK likely to be the only alternative because it is the cheapest alternative?

That second question is vital because we believe the interests of a 133-year-old institution override the interests of any temporary owner. A situation in which a move out of London to Milton Keynes really was the only option left open to Tottenham Hotspur, with all the damage that could do to the club’s identity and the inconvenience it would pose for supporters, would raise serious questions about how that situation was arrived at.

• A new stadium with a bigger capacity provides a perfect opportunity to address the concerns about the high price of English football tickets, while also ensuring the stadium is regularly full. We want to see a progressive pricing policy put in place, which means employing stretch pricing to ensure top-level corporate packages enable prices to be reduced in a significant section of the ground.

We welcome THFC’s support for safe standing and believe this provides one key way to both reduce prices and increase income. Against the background of unprecedented income for the game, and the latest set of healthy financial figures for the Club, we say there is no excuse for failing to relieve the financial burden on fans.

We accept that issues around player wages and the financial structure of the game affect every Club’s financial position, and that is why we work alongside other football organisations for reforms in the way the game is run. But as far as increasing the financial burden on fans goes, we say enough is enough.

• The Club has repeatedly stressed the benefits the stadium can bring the local area. There is a complex argument in the sports business world about what benefits stadium projects bring to the surrounding areas and how those benefits can be measured – with no conclusion yet reached. We still believe the stadium represents the best available chance for regenerating an area sorely in need of regeneration. Whatever the arguments, some regeneration is better than none.

But the Club, like Haringey Council, has to recognise there is still a great deal of genuine suspicion in the local community about the plans. The Club’s current owners, remember, wanted to move the Club to Stratford. So we would like to see the Club build on the work it is already doing in its highly-regarded community projects to rebuild community confidence in a project that could make our Club a beacon for world football. We would be happy to play whatever part we could in this.

The new stadium project is an opportunity to write a new chapter in the Club’s history. One which benefits the Club, its fans and the local communities. For this to happen, there needs to be a fresh approach to working together.