黑洞社区

Allies & Morrison鈥檚 plans to treble the size of the Wimbledon Championship鈥檚 grounds have been thrown back into limbo by the High Court鈥檚 decision to allow a judicial review of the scheme鈥檚 planning consent.

Campaign group Save Wimbledon Park launched a legal challenge at the beginning of January against the Greater London Authority鈥檚 approval of the 拢200m plans, arguing that it had 鈥渕ade errors of law and planning policy鈥�.

The court has now accepted all three of the group鈥檚 grounds for a judicial review, with Mrs Justice Lang saying this week that the bid had 鈥渞aised arguable grounds which merit consideration at a full hearing鈥�.

The proposals, the largest expansion in the grand slam tournament鈥檚 history, would add 38 new tennis courts and an 8,000-seat show court on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) neighbouring the All England Lawn Tennis Club鈥檚 (AELTC) main site in Wimbledon.

But the scheme has been bogged down by planning disputes since autumn 2023 when Wandsworth council, which covers around 10% of the site, voted to refuse the application due to concerns over the loss of public land. The remaining 90% of the site is located within Merton council, which had approved the scheme two weeks earlier.

The scheme was then thrown a lifeline in January 2024 when the application was called in by City Hall and finally approved by deputy mayor Jules Pipe in September following a series of design changes intended to increase public access to the site from the neighbouring Wimbledon Park.

But Save Wimbledon Park argued in its judicial review bid that the decision had failed to take into account restrictive covenants on the land which the group said would prevent the proposed development.

The group is also claiming that a proposed private tennis entertainment complex is 鈥渘ot an 鈥榓lternative sports and recreational provision鈥� as required by planning policy鈥�.

The site, which is currently occupied by a golf course, comprises the western half of the remnants of an 18th century landscaped garden designed by Capability Brown.

The AELTC had argued that scheme would include heritage benefits by removing the golf course and partially restore of the landscaped park. 

However, Save Wimbledon Park countered that that the golf course development was 鈥渋n planning policy terms 鈥榙eliberate damage鈥� to this historic heritage asset, such that the rectification of such damage should not count as a benefit.鈥�

Jeremy Hudson, speaking on behalf of the campaign group, said legal action had been launched because the 鈥渃ommunity feel strongly that this precious, historic and highly protected environment should be preserved from inappropriate development, be allowed to remain accessible, and continue to be available for community use for sport and recreation. 

He added: 鈥淭his step is not just for our local community but also important for many other Metropolitan Open Land spaces under threat of development.鈥�

The court will now set a date for the hearing.

The AELTC said: 鈥淥ur plans to transform land that was formerly a private members鈥� golf club into beautiful new publicly accessible parkland, as well as securing the future of The Championships for generations to come, has been extensively discussed and analysed over the past three years.

鈥淲e are confident in the process undertaken during this time, including the GLA鈥檚 decision to grant planning permission at a public hearing in September.鈥�

The deputy mayor concluded in the September hearing that the scheme would provide 鈥渧ery significant鈥� public benefits that would 鈥渃learly outweigh鈥� any harm done to public land.

Pipe had also argued that, while the development would be 鈥渋nappropriate鈥� on MOL, in practice the land, which has been the site of a golf club, 鈥渉as been extremely constricted for the past century, principally to fee-paying golfers鈥�.

The AELTC has said the expansion is needed to maintain the global prestige of Wimbledon, which is currently the only grand slam tournament which is unable to hold qualifying rounds on its own grounds.