The Guardian: "‘It’s going a bit too far’: locals criticise Wimbledon expansion plans before judicial review"

The Guardian | 7th July 2025 | Geneva Abdul

"Campaigners are challenging planning approval granted last year for scheme to develop 39 more courts"

" I love this tournament, I love what they’ve done with it, but I do not love what they’re developing it into,” said Jonathan Pinkess on day five of Wimbledon. Standing in the morning sun, handing out flyers against the All England Lawn Tennis Club’s expansion plans, he is one of many local residents who fear the championship will usurp local green space.

To ensure Wimbledon maintains its pre-eminence on the tennis circuit, the AELTC has plans to develop a further 39 courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, on the grounds of the old Wimbledon Park golf club. Local opposition, however, has long questioned why the “industrial-scale development” is needed.

A judicial review will start this week while the 138th edition of the tournament is under way, as a local campaign group challenges the planning permissions approved in September 2024. Residents have argued against the loss of green space as well as 10 years of disruption to the local area and have questioned its legality.

Gary Forde, 58, who has been part of the Save Wimbledon Park campaign for years, said: “It’s not just a local issue, it is a national issue, because it would set an unhealthy precedent for other areas that are subject to development threat.”

The proposed expansion straddling the boroughs of Merton and Wandsworth would be on metropolitan open land, which has the same protected status as green belt. Aside from the judicial review, a separate court action brought by the AELTC will determine whether the land is for public recreation or protected by a statutory trust.

The dispute goes back to 1993 when the AELTC bought the golf course land from Merton council for £5.2m. It signed a covenant agreeing it would not use the land other than for leisure, recreational purposes or as open space. The campaign group, which has raised £200,000 ahead of the review, believes the proposals have violated that pledge."

...read more about "...‘It’s going a bit too far..."