Wimbledon has received the green light for the most ambitious expansion in its history after the London Mayor’s office approved their proposal to build 39 new grass courts on land purchase from a golf club in 2018.
The All England Club will build a new, roofed show court with capacity for 8,000 spectators and lay an additional 38 new grass courts across the road from the current site.
This will allow Wimbledon to fall into line with the other Grand Slams in bringing the qualifying competition on-site – it is currently played at modest facilities in Roehampton – and create a genuine three-week event. The year 2033 would be the ballpark for the new vision to be realised.
There has been significant local opposition to the plans however and deputy mayor Jules Pipe’s announcement of his granting of planning permission was met by loud boos in the chamber.
A representative of the Save Wimbledon Park group this week said of the hearing: ‘We are just entering the third-set tie-break, and have plenty of aces to serve. The fourth set is the Secretary of State and the fifth the courts. We are in it for the long haul.’
The All England Club have been given the green light to build 39 new grass courts including a 8,000 spectator show court to bring Wimbledon in line with other Grand Slam events

The year 2033 would be the ballpark for the vision of the controversial plans to be realised

There has been significant local opposition to the plans for more courts by locals and the announcement by deputy mayor Jules Pipe was met with loud boos in the chamber
But shortly before Pipe announced his decision, Secretary of State for housing, communities and local government Angela Rayner confirmed she would not call up the matter to her office, leaving the courts as the objectors’ only recourse.
Wimbledon’s initial proposals were accepted by Merton council but rejected by Wandsworth and that led to the application being brought before deputy mayor Pipe.
There were environmental protesters outside City Hall and 12 local politicians and residents spoke in opposition.
The crux of their argument is that the remodelling of the golf club land will do significant ecological damage and that Wimbledon’s need for expansion does not satisfy the ‘very special circumstances’ required to build on Metropolitan Open Land.
Local residents feel Wimbledon have been high handed and unwilling to compromise in their dealings with community.
Politicians of Lib Dem, Labour and Tory stripe were united in their objections. Merton Lib Dem councillor Jil Hall said Wimbledon were motivated by ‘greed, not need’ and that the plans would transform Wimbledon from: ‘from tennis in an English garden to tennis in an industrial complex’.
An argument was made that the accepting of these proposals would represent the thin end of the wedge in terms of allowing building on green spaces in London.
Wimbledon put forward arguments, supported by the London Wildlife Trust, that they would in fact revitalise an area that is ‘dead’ in terms of biodiversity.

The All England Club will build a new, roofed show court with capacity for 8,000 spectators and lay an additional 38 new grass courts across the road from the current site

Wimbledon would fall into line with the other Grand Slams in bringing the qualifying competition on-site and create a genuine three-week event once completed

All England Club chair Debbie Jevans (pictured with the Princess of Wales) said the plans were primarily motivated by fear that Wimbledon’s status as the jewel in the tennis crown was at risk
The club has also committed to opening up 11 hectares of the land as public park space.
All England Club chair Debbie Jevans said the plans were primarily motivated by fear that Wimbledon’s status as the jewel in the tennis crown was at risk. ‘We are falling behind the other Grand Slams,’ she said. ‘Wimbledon is one of the nations most treasured events …but we cannot take this position for granted in what is a hugely competitive and rapidly-changing sporting landscape.’
Jevans was director of sport for the 2012 London Olympics and she claimed the plans present ‘the greatest sporting transformation’ in the capital since those Games.
This is unlikely to be the end of this tale, however, with local groups determined to fight the expansion all the way to the courts.