Putney News: Two court defeats and a parliamentary ambush. Wimbledon Park’s residents won’t give up.
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
Putney News 25th April 2026 Kieren McCarthy
The five-year fight to stop the All England Club building on protected land — and what happens next.
Nine months ago, Save Wimbledon Park lost in the High Court. The judge found that the Greater London Authority had acted lawfully when it approved the All England Club’s plans to expand the world’s most famous tennis tournament onto protected parkland opposite its gates.
They appealed.
Three months ago, they lost again in a second High Court case, this time over whether the land was protected by a statutory public recreation trust. They had raised £120,000 from the community to fight it. Their barrister argued hard. The judge did not agree.
They applied to the Court of Appeal.
And then this week, they lost a third battle in Parliament, when the government’s Devolution Bill passed through the House of Commons. Tucked inside it was an amendment – backed by four members of the House of Lords, one of whom is a director of the company behind the Wimbledon expansion – that removed a further layer of legal protection from the land. It passed without a vote. Without debate. In seconds.
You could forgive the group of local residents who have spent five years fighting this for wanting, at that point, to give up.
