A Wimbledon community-spearheaded campaign raised concerns the approval for an expansion of the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) threatens the accessibility of parks for recreational sport.
The Save Wimbledon Park group (SWP) raised over £130,000 for a judicial review to challenge the GLA’s approval of the Wimbledon Park Project which will expand into the former golf course land, a heritage Grade II* landscape.
The review, set to take place mid-Championships on 8 and 9 July, comes after four years of persistent debate of the AELTC plans to build 38 grass tennis courts and an 8,000 seater stadium, the Parkland Show Court.
The SWP group is concerned about the legitimacy of the plans and the environmental impact on this Metropolitan Open Land, which has the same level of protection as Green Belt.
SWP member Simon Wright said: “This is about local democracy and people having their voices heard.
“How can we make sure that institutions keep their word?
“I think at a time when people are losing their trust in democratic institutions, someone has to try and hold these people to account and it is about having the local people’s back.”
The AELTC bought the freehold of the golf course from Merton Council in 1993 and signed a covenant, preventing development on the area.
A 2021 planning application to expand the site was refused by Wandsworth Council, but accepted by Merton and finally approved by the GLA in September 2024.
There is contention as to whether the land is subject to a public recreation trust, which would maintain it for public recreational use and access, preventing private development.
The AELTC maintains that there has never been a statutory trust affecting the land.
However, according to SWP, Merton’s sale of the freehold in 1993 failed to cancel the trust.
The project will expand the AELTC on land opposite its current home and allow the Wimbledon Qualifying event to be brought on-site for the first time, instead of renting the Bank of England-owned location in Roehampton.
AELTC corporate affairs lead Dominic Foster said: “The project is to ensure that Wimbledon remains at the pinnacle of sport.
“As a result of this expansion, we get to bring the fans as close to the action as possible.”
He added moving the qualifiers on-site would allow up to 10,000 people a day, improving community access throughout the three weeks.
The judicial review will challenge the GLA’s approval on account of environmental, heritage and community access concerns and establish whether it took into account the covenant and statutory public recreation trust.
In an effort to clarify the statutory trust status, the AELTC have agreed to put the question before the court in January 2026 and will pay for SWP’s legal costs which they state is to assure fair opportunity.
Foster claimed the AELTC consulted over 10,000 local people about the project and offered parkland tours in association with London Wildlife Trust to discuss the biodiversity on-site.
He said: “It is really important to us as a good neighbour in the community to give tangible benefits to people living locally and give them access to this fantastic green space.”
Wright, however, disagrees.
He said: “We have seen a lot of glossy PR from the AELTC and they have made zero changes to their plans as a result of their high visibility consultation.
Fellow SWP member Penny Terndrup added: “Local democracy dictates that the community needs to be heard.”
She said the group would welcome an independent organisation to conduct a community consultation.
Aside from improving accessibility during the summer Championships, the AELTC also aims to incorporate other year-round community benefits.
The project will create a 23-acre public park converted from the previously private golf course.
However, the SWP group questioned whether the AELTC would follow through with their proposal and feared that access to the public park could be tentative and restricted when the courts are in use.
Wright said: “If they can overturn the covenant, then they’ve got carte blanche over that land and we really don’t know what they want to do with it.
“Who builds an 8,000-seater stadium and uses it two weeks a year?”
The AELTC promised a new boardwalk encompassing the Wimbledon Park Lake and £15million-worth of enhancements, including a children’s playground and water sports centre.
Foster said: “This land that we’re talking about has been a private members golf course for over 100 years.
“The amount of green space accessible to the public will increase by more than 50% as a result of these plans.”
Foster added during their community consultation process, feedback centered around the lack of affordable spaces for public meetings in the area.
Outside of the Championship weeks, the Parkland Showcourt is set to be made available for community use.
After: An artist’s aerial impression of the park and stadium after the AELTC expansion project.
(Photo Credits: SWP and Allies&Morrison/AELTC)
The SWP group also raised concerns about the environmental impact of the project, questioning the number of trees to be felled and the AELTC’s promise to plant more than 1,500, stating that trees are an anathema to tennis courts.
Foster said that they completed 1,000 hours of ecological surveys across the land and that the environmental and biodiversity benefits would be significant, including desilting the lake.
In May, Wimbledon Liberal Democrat MP Paul Kohler facilitated the first meeting in four years since the campaign began between members of the SWP group and AELTC chair Debbie Jevans.
Kohler said: “The All England Club is important to Wimbledon and something of which my constituents are rightly proud.
“As MP, I don’t want a decade of litigation and a fight between the AELTC and my local community.
“The SWP group has always said they wanted a compromise so we are asking the AELTC to come back with a sensible solution.
“In previous projects the AELTC engaged much better with local residents.
“Given this plan is more ambitious, they should have gone to greater lengths to try and bring people with them and reach a compromise.
“You will never bring everyone with you, but to have 22,000 local people sign a petition against the proposals, shows how badly AELTC has mismanaged the process up ‘til now.”
The Wimbledon Club chair Richard Creed said the project would massively inspire others to take up a sport.
He added: “The efforts of locals to get the development right are much appreciated.”
The Wimbledon Park Project approval has sparked wider concerns about the commercialisation of other green spaces across London.
A report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) identified 50 London parks and green spaces that are at risk of neglect or privatisation.
CPRE London head of campaigns Alice Roberts said: “It is up to us to remind everybody that if you don’t fight for parks, you don’t have them.”
Roberts said it was becoming common for councils to sell previously public parks for private professional sporting use.
Most recently, Enfield Council approved the lease of Whitewebbs Park for Tottenham Hotspur to build a women’s football academy on the rewilded former golf course.
Roberts said: “People see London as a sporting capital but that is for the professionals.
“What they don’t see is that the facilities for recreational sports that most people use are coming under threat.
“A covenant on the land is a legal precedent and says that it shouldn’t be used for commercial purposes.
“If the courts allow the AELTC project to go ahead, it sets another precedent and that’s pretty disastrous for London.“
Featured image photo credit: Allies&Morrison/AELTC
