All England Club hopes Wimbledon expansion plan gets the green light

Ambitious expansion plans by the All England Club will go before a public hearing at City Hall on Friday, with London deputy mayor Jules Pipe recommended to approve the building of 39 new courts on Wimbledon Park.

Earlier this month, a report by officers at the Greater London Authority (GLA) said “very significant” economic benefits and enhancing the Wimbledon brand were two of the reasons why conditional planning permission should be granted, with “no material considerations that are considered to justify the refusal of consent”.

The All England Club had bought the lease of the neighbouring Wimbledon Park Golf Club for a reported £65million in 2018.

The initial redevelopment plans – which include another show court with a capacity of 8,000 seats and retractable roof – had been accepted by Merton Council in October 2023 following a lengthy late-night planning committee meeting, subject to certain conditions.

Across the site – which also encompasses Wimbledon Park Lake and a section of Church Road – designated north and south player hubs would be built, as well as a new 23-acre public park created.

The grounds would almost triple in size and allow Wimbledon to host the qualifying tournaments in SW19, rather than their current home a couple of miles away in Roehampton.

Completion is projected for 2030, which will see an increase in the capacity of the championships from 42,000 to 50,000 and also deliver “benefits relating to heritage open space, recreation and community”.

The £200m project, though, was thrown into doubt when Wandsworth Council, some of whose land the application also straddles, subsequently announced it intended to refuse it.

A revised bid was submitted to the GLA in May 2024, and the decision is now down to the deputy mayor – with London mayor Sadiq Khan not involved having publicly supported the initial plans in 2021.

Irrespective of the decision made by Pipe, which could come following Friday’s public hearing, Deputy Prime Minster Angela Rayner – the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – will still have seven days in which to rubber-stamp or reject the application.

A number of local groups, residents and politicians have protested against the proposal, saying it is too large for the area and that there will be considerable environmental damage.

Around 2,000 trees are expected to be removed across some 75 acres of Metropolitan Open Land, which is intended to be protected as an area of landscape, recreation, nature conservation or scientific interest.

The All England Club maintains the project “offers significant social, economic and environmental improvements”.

Liberal Democrat MP for Wimbledon Paul Kohler said in a statement on X, supported by other local politicians, if Pipe did approve the plans to “turn much of Wimbledon Park into a concrete industrial tennis complex”, then he would be “showing complete contempt for the people of Wimbledon”.

The Save Wimbledon Park Group intends to be “out in force” at City Hall before the start of Friday’s public hearing.

“There is a huge amount of animosity and bitterness because the risk of loss of this open space – important to people’s well-being and recreation – is so significant,” SWP spokesperson Christopher Coombe told PA.

“This land has been protected forever, never built upon – a decision to approve this application will see it lost forever.”