Iconic British sporting venue gets green light for huge expansion that will transform annual national event
WIMBLEDON chiefs won a double green light for their major expansion plans – to leave protestors promising a legal fight.
All England Club bosses plan to build a new 8,000-seater show court and 38 other courts on the site of the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club, directly adjacent to the tournament location.
That will allow the qualifying tournament for the Championships to be played on-site and also offer more practice facilities for players.
The proposals, bitterly fought by local residents and the MPs for Wimbledon and Putney, had been backed by Merton Council.
But they were rejected by councillors in next door Wandsworth.
That meant a decision had to be taken by London’s City Hall, although Mayor Sadiq Khan stood down citing a conflict of interest and leaving the final call to deputy Jules Pipe.
Despite cat-calls from objectors who had attended the lengthy D-Day meeting, Pipe accepted the recommendation of planning chiefs to give the green light.
It came within a few hours of deputy Prime Minister and Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary of State Angela Raynor confirming she would not intervene in the process.
The decision was greeted by jeers from the residents’ group.
It has accused the club of breaching a legal covenant over the use of the site when the land was originally purchased from Merton in 1993.
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They have criticised the impact of up to six years of building work on the project.
They are now vowing to apply for a judicial review of the decision and have not ruled out asking the Supreme Court to intervene.
Indeed 99-year-old former Coronation Street actress Thelma Ruby vowed to chain herself to the All England Club if the controversial plans went ahead.
She has lived in an idyllic penthouse flat on Wimbledon Hill Road opposite the tennis complex for three decades.
Ruby said: “Let them arrest me. I live in a flat overlooking this magnificent landscape, which was designed by Capability Brown.
“Rhe club talk about planting new trees, but can you imagine how long it would take for newly planted trees to give the benefits that we now get from mature trees?
“I look several times a day out of the window and it gives me strength to carry on. It gives me inspiration.”
It is estimated the planned works will cost a whopping £200million.