“To use a tennis analogy, we’re at one set all but we’ve got a long way to go,” says Christopher Coombe, a member of Save Wimbledon Park, as he reflects on the latest plot twist in the fight between local residents and the world’s biggest tennis tournament. “This is a five-set match with no tie-break.”
Coombe is speaking the morning after Wandsworth council unanimously rejected the All England Club’s plans to build 39 grass courts, including an 8,000-seat stadium, on the Grade II-listed Wimbledon golf club site. But last month Merton council, which has an equal say in the decision, approved the same controversial plans by 6-4. Hence the impasse – and the sense of battle lines being redrawn on the streets of Wimbledon and Southfields.
