Wandsworth Council has called on the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to halt AFC Wimbledon’s Stadium development.

The bitter dispute between the two councils over AFC Wimbledon’s Plough Lane stadium bid has intensified after Wandsworth Council wrote a letter to Sajid Javid MP requesting he calls in the application for further scrutiny.

Wandsworth Council has been a persistent critic of the proposal, on the border between Merton and Wandsworth, claiming it will lead to increased pressure on transport infrastructure and services.

Former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson originally called in the plans in order to make the decision at Mayoral level after they had been unanimously approved by Merton Council last year, but last week new mayor, Sadiq Khan, reversed this.

In his letter to Mr Javid, the leader of Wandsworth Council Ravi Govindia wrote: “Given the scale of the development and the direct and significant impact on this borough I am of the firm view that this matter requires an additional degree of scrutiny and assessment by an impartial authority.

“I was hoping that the new Mayor of London would provide this additional degree of scrutiny on the strategic matters raised by this proposal but he has decided not to utilise his powers in this instance.

“I would, therefore, request that you intervene in the determination of this planning application. This will enable a balanced decision on the application which reflects and mitigates the strategic impacts on both boroughs and give a higher degree of public confidence in the planning process.”

Stephen Alambritis, Leader of Merton Council, labelled Wandsworth’s approach as “nasty”.

Cllr Alambritis said: “I don’t think there are grounds for the Secretary of State to call this in. All the professionals support the application; Merton planning office technicians support the application, Ravi Govinda’s own planning officers have said there’s no need to interfere, the Mayor’s officers under both Boris Johnson and Sadiq Khan have said there is no justification for the mayor to interfere and I’m sure the officers for the Secretary of State will say the same thing.”

AFC Wimbledon chief executive Erik Samuelson said: “We are very confident our application is robust and has met the standards of professional planners at Merton, Wandsworth and the GLA (Greater London Authority). We also believe it will withstand any external scrutiny.”