Legal challenge launched against Wimbledon expansion plan
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A row over plans to massively expand the site of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships has ramped up after local campaigners revealed they are taking legal action against City Hall for approving the project. The Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) campaign said it had taken the “momentous step” in order to prevent the “inappropriate development”, which will comprise 38 new practice courts and an 8,000-seater stadium.
The structures will be built on a former golf course directly opposite the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s (AELTC) existing site on Church Road, and will almost triple its total footprint. Planning permission for the scheme was granted by London’s deputy mayor for planning, Jules Pipe, at a City Hall hearing in September last year. Mr Pipe said the project would help to “secure the future of these Championships in this location” and would bring “significant associated economic benefits”.
But opponents of the plan continue to argue that it will cause serious harm to the area’s biodiversity and heritage, and could set a dangerous precedent for development on sites which are meant to enjoy a high level of protection due to their designation as ‘metropolitan open land’.
SWP claims that City Hall “made errors of law and planning policy” when it granted permission for the project, as it “failed to take into account the implications of the statutory public recreation trust and the restrictive covenants [on the land], both of which prevent the proposed development”.
