It appears to be game, set and match for the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) in its lengthy battle to build 39 new courts on Wimbledon Park after the Greater London Authority recommended that the project should be approved.
The proposals have been deeply controversial, with local residents warning of 10 years of disruption as well as the creation of a huge “tennis industrial complex” that would lie silent for much of the year. However, officers at the GLA recommended on Thursday that the deputy mayor should grant conditional planning permission at a public hearing on Friday 27 September.
In the conclusion to a 221-page report, the officials said the project complied with most relevant planning policies and there were “no material considerations that are considered to justify the refusal of consent”. The report also said the proposal would bring in £336m of annual benefits and “would result in the creation of 40 year-round jobs and 256 Championships jobs”.
The AELTC has argued that it needs a third 8,000-seat show court, along with 38 other grass courts that would largely host qualifying matches and improved practice facilities, to ensure Wimbledon remains the world’s pre-eminent tennis tournament. Residents have maintained it will cause environmental damage and a loss of green spaces on protected metropolitan open land (MOL).
Merton council initially approved the plans, but the proposal was referred to the GLA after Wandsworth council rejected the scheme last November. The land in question straddles the two boroughs. The full planning hearing will take place at City Hall on 27 September, with a verdict potentially the same day.
The decision will be taken by Jules Pipe, the deputy mayor of London, as the mayor, Sadiq Khan, excused himself from the process having publicly expressed his support for the plans in 2021.
The planning officers’ decision was welcomed by Deborah Jevans, chair of the AELTC, who said: “We believe that these plans will deliver one of the greatest sporting transformations for London since 2012. The land that we propose to enhance has been used as a private members’ golf course for well over 100 years and, as a core part of this project, we will create 27 acres of beautiful new parkland, free for the public to access and enjoy.”
However, the Labour MP for Putney and Southfields, Fleur Anderson, along with local leaders, said they were “extremely disappointed” by the report.
“The AELTC plans as they currently stand are simply not fair for our constituents in Wandsworth,” she said. “We will continue to work alongside local campaigners and residents to ensure that our case is made clearly.”
That sentiment was shared by Jonathan Morrish of Save Wimbledon Park. “The general direction of the report is not what we wanted and the admission of loss of open space and harm to protected MOL is deeply distressing to local residents whose views haven’t been taken into consideration,” he said. “We will be out in force at the GLA meeting on Friday 27th.”
