Green light for Wimbledon expansion

Image: AELTC

Plans to build 39 new tennis courts including a show court stadium on protected open land opposite the All England Club in Wimbledon have been approved.

The BBC said The All England Club’s plans to build the courts and an 8,000-seat stadium on Wimbledon Park have been given the go-ahead by Deputy Mayor of London Jules Pipe.

He decided that “significant” community and economic benefits of the scheme outweigh the harm the development would cause.

The project will allow Wimbledon qualifying to take place on site, in line with the other three Grand Slams. Wimbledon qualifying is currently held around three and a half miles away at Roehampton’s Community Sports Centre.

Pipe reached the verdict following a public hearing on Friday morning, where residents and politicians opposed to the scheme warned it would cause unacceptable harm to the local area.

In a 221-page report, planning officers at City Hall had told Pipe there were “no material considerations that are considered to justify the refusal of consent”, and they recommended he approve the plan.

Pipe said he felt the expansion was vital for Wimbledon’s long-term future as a Grand Slam tournament.

He said: “As is widely accepted, Wimbledon is the most prestigious tournament in world tennis, which attracts a global audience, visitors, and contributes to London’s brand in terms of culture, sporting heritage and as a visitor destination.

“I consider the proposal would be important in helping secure the future of these Championships in this location.”

AELTC has said the project will “deliver one of the greatest sporting transformations for London since 2012” and will “create 27 acres of beautiful new parkland, free for the public to access and enjoy”.

All England Club chair Deborah Jevans said, “Clearly we are very, very pleased – it has been a long journey to this point. Equally there is a journey to go through before we start to build.

“Our ambition, if everything falls into place, is that we could see tennis balls being hit on that site between 2030 and 2033.”

With the new development in place, up to 10,000 people a day would be able to watch qualifying and up to 50,000 could enter the grounds during each day of the main fortnight.

It would also represent an upgrade in facilities for the players.

The new show court would have a roof and that would meet Wimbledon’s goal for another large show court able to host matches whatever the weather.

The Wimbledon Society, however, describes the proposal as an “industrial tennis complex with an unacceptable environmental impact”.

A petition organised by Save Wimbledon Park has attracted almost 21,000 signatures.

Opposition centres around the environmental impact of the scheme. Fears have been raised over flood risk and air quality, plus the loss of wildlife, trees and open spaces.

People are also concerned about the traffic, noise and environmental impact of at least six years of building work.

The BBC further stated that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has the power to hold a fresh planning hearing but has made clear in a letter seen by BBC Sport that the application “should be determined at a local level”.

Local residents and politicians fighting the proposal are now running out of options but could still apply for a judicial review.

An attempt could still be made to challenge the lawfulness of the way the decision was made – on the grounds of illegality, procedural unfairness or irrationality. But the bar remains high, as only a very small number of these cases succeed each year.

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