The Council of State, the highest administrative court in the country, has torn up the complete zoning plan to redevelop an area of Rotterdam around a new Feyenoord football stadium, saying officials should have realised that it was unrealistic.

Rotterdam city council passed the development plan for Feyenoord City project in 2020 but there were considerable protests, not least from Feyenoord fans who bitterly opposed a move to a new stadium.

The project involved totally developing the riverside location with thousands of new homes, shops and offices in one of the poorest parts of the country. The new Feyenoord stadium was to be the centre piece and driver for other investment.

However, in April Feyenoord finally said the club had dropped plans to build the new stadium because of spiralling costs, putting the future of the entire project in doubt.

And on Wednesday, the Council of State said officials should have seen that plans to build the new stadium were unrealistic and that this rendered the plan to build 3,700 new homes and other facilities impossible as well.

The ruling means the city must completely revise its plans for the area. The original project had a budget of €1.5 billion and was said to be the biggest inner city redevelopment project in the country.

Rotterdam officials have not yet commented on the Council of State ruling.