Proposals to treble size of venue had faced fresh clash over status of golf club site
Allies and Morrison’s plans to treble the size of the Wimbledon Championships grounds have cleared a major High Court hurdle this morning to bring work on the £200m development a step closer.
The latest legal battle on the scheme centred on the legal status of the land on which the expansion would be built,
The scheme would extend the grounds of the annual grand slam over a neighbouring golf club site, adding 38 new tennis courts, an 8,000-seat show court and extensive parkland.
But it has faced sustained opposition from local campaigners who claim the proposed site is held in a public statutory trust and should be classed as Metropolitan Open Land, despite the site being used as a private golf course since 1898.
A legal hearing on the issue began at the High Court in January and in a ruling this morning Mr Justice Thompsell said the golf course land is not subject to a statutory trust.
Deborah Jevans, chair of the All England Club, said: “This Judgment provides important clarity on the status of the land. As has long been our position, the land has never been held under a statutory public recreation trust and the Court’s decision now brings welcome legal certainty to this matter, which all parties need in order to move forward.
“The ruling represents a significant milestone for our plans which will, as well as delivering 27 acres of beautiful new public parkland on previously private land, allow us to maintain Wimbledon’s position as one of the world’s most successful sporting events.
“We know from our discussions with more than 10,000 local residents that the vast majority of people want us to get on and deliver the benefits of our plans as soon as possible.”
The club had previously admitted that the proposed development would be “incompatible” if a statutory trust over the land was found to exist.
Jeremy Hudson, from local campaign group Save Wimbledon Park (SWP), said: “We continue the fight after this news because there is a strong case for protecting this precious open space from development.
“Wimbledon promised they would never build on this land. And Wimbledon can do better because there are existing, alternative plans which show that their scheme can be accommodated on their current site. We fight on.”
The latest case comes after the High Court last summer dismissed SWP’s judicial review of the Greater London Authority’s decision to approve the expansion following a year-long planning saga.
In that case, SWP had argued the GLA had made “errors of law and planning policy” when deputy London mayor Jules Pipe ruled that the project could go ahead despite continued uncertainty over the status of the land.
The plans for the site also include seven new maintenance buildings and a pedestrian bridge crossing Wimbledon Park Lake, which would be altered and expanded with a de-culverted channel running through part of the parkland alongside the new tennis courts.
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