Plans to expand Wimbledon will be taken to the UK Supreme Court.
The All England Club (AELTC), hosting the third Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season, is looking to add a third stadium court and 38 additional courts to its footprint, increasing the scale of works expected to exceed £200 million ($254). .8 million) will triple. .
The Greater London Authority (GLA) granted planning permission in September, but campaign group Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) has now instructed lawyers to challenge the decision, which could ultimately lead to a judicial review at the High Court.
It has sent “a lengthy formal letter setting out our case to the GLA, copied to both Merton and Wandsworth Councils and to the AELTC,” a spokesperson’s statement said. The Athletics Wednesday December 11
The letter is required as part of the “pre-action protocol” for a judicial review. In it, SWP’s law firm, Russell Cooke, invites the GLA to confirm that it will reconsider the planning permission. This would mean that the subsidy is destroyed. The company is asking for a “substantial response” by December 16; the letter is dated December 6.
A spokesperson for Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said: “The Mayor believes that this plan will deliver a significant range of benefits, including economic, social and cultural benefits for the local area, the wider capital and the British economy, which will create new jobs and enhance Wimbledon’s reputation as the world’s premier tennis competition.
“City Hall will respond to the letter from Save Wimbledon Park in due course.”
In addition, the AELTC confirmed on December 1 that it will challenge a key tenet of SWP and other residents’ groups’ objections to the plans in the High Court. SWP states that when AELTC bought the freehold of the Wimbledon grounds and adjacent park in 1993, it was subject to a legal trust that requires that land to be kept free for public recreation.
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All England Club granted planning permission for a huge tennis expansion at Wimbledon
The AELTC states that “there is, and has never been, a statutory trust affecting the site of the former Wimbledon Park Golf Course”. It will now take this argument to the Supreme Court in an attempt to prove its point.
The AELTC bought the golf course – whose lease expired in 2041 – in 2018 for £65 million (now $87.1 million). This led to each member receiving £85,000, and the AELTC argues that the fact it is a private club invalidates the concept of a private club. a legal trust.
“We have been pointing out for some time that the statutory public recreation fund under which the AELTC owns the golf course heritage is a fundamental block to the proposed AELTC development,” an SWP spokesperson said.
“We are pleased to hear that the AELTC now recognizes our position and notes that they intend to take this to trial rather than engage in any discussion.”
The AELTC believes its plans will ensure Wimbledon does not lag behind the Australian, French and US Opens in prestige.
One of the 39 new courts will be an 8,000-seat stadium, and the other 38 will allow the AELTC to host the qualifying event on site. That event is held the week before the main draw starts, and Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam of the four that does not yet have an on-site qualifying event. Wimbledon’s third show court, No. 2 Court, is the smallest of the majors’ third courts.
Planning permission for the extension went to the GLA after Merton and Wandsworth councils failed to agree. Merton granted permission in October 2023, before Wandsworth refused it a month later. There is no expected timeline for the AELTC’s case, nor for SWP’s proposed judicial review. AELTC chair Deborah Jevans has said it wants the new courts in use by the early 2030s.
(Julian Finney/Getty Images)