Wimbledon expansion: New poll reveals overwhelming support for £200m facelift

Wimbledon has received a major boost in its fight with local residents over an expansion plan, with a poll revealing that over half of Londoners are in favour of the proposal.

Telegraph Sport has seen the results of YouGov’s latest survey which reveals that 59 per cent of those polled in the capital supported attempts to treble the size of the Wimbledon site. Just eight per cent opposed the project.

The poll results are potentially significant as, after being rejected by neighbouring Wandsworth Council last year, Wimbledon’s plans are due to be considered by the Greater London Assembly next month. Following months of consultation, the deputy mayor of London, Jules Pipe, will chair the hearing. The outcome will be one of the most significant days in Wimbledon’s 147-year history.

The All England Club wants to build 39 new courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, on a former golf course over the road from Centre Court, which would expand its grounds from 42 to 115 acres. The ambitious plans, which were first submitted for planning permission three years ago in the hope of building work starting in 2022, have sparked a fierce backlash from well-heeled locals, with campaign group Save Wimbledon Park claiming they would turn a piece of community land into an “industrial tennis complex”.

Wimbledon’s proposals have the overwhelming backing of the players. Novak Djokovic described them as a “very good project” last week, while the All England Club claims that the vast majority of the 8,000 local residents who have visited the site are also supportive.

The YouGov poll commissioned by the club conducted both in London and nationally appears to endorse such claims. On a national level, the results were 54 per cent in favour, 33 per cent neutral and four per cent opposed.

The expansion would enable Wimbledon to replicate the other three grand slam venues by holding qualifying on its own site, rather than three miles away in Roehampton, as well as significantly improving facilities and space for spectators. Outside of The Championships, at least seven of the new courts would be made available for community use and 23 acres of the grounds would become a public park, with plans to hold farmers’ markets, yoga sessions and a Parkrun.

‘A lot of untruths put out there about the plans’

Wimbledon has spent tens of millions of pounds on the project, including paying £64million to buy the adjoining golf club’s lease, which involved all members, including TV presenters Ant and Dec, receiving an £85,000 pay-out. While Merton Council, on which 90 per cent of the site sits, approved the plans last October, the neighbouring Wandsworth Council rejected them the following month, despite having jurisdiction over a small portion of the grounds.

Debbie Jevans, chair of the All England Club, said that Wimbledon’s plans would improve the area in a manner similar to the transformation of east London that followed the 2012 Olympics, which she helped to deliver as the Games’ director of sport, and accused campaigners of making false claims about the plans.

“I’m looking forward to the Greater London Authority calling us in to make our case,” Jevans said. “Eight thousand local people have been on tours of the site, and when they see it they’re supportive. There have been a lot of untruths put out there about the plans, which is disappointing.

“Our plans to transform the former Wimbledon Park Golf Course will deliver one of the greatest sporting transformations in London since 2012. We’re committed to delivering significant social, economic and environmental improvements, creating hundreds of jobs and generating millions of pounds in economic benefits.”

Campaigners against the expansion, and pro-Palestine groups, staged separate protests as bumper crowds arrived for the opening day’s play on Monday.