The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon says it needs to expand to compete with rival grand slam tournaments. Photograph: Steven Paston/PA Real estate Epic match beckons as Wimbledon locals take on tennis club expansion Plan for 8,000-seat venue and 38 courts on Capability Brown-designed park sets tennis club on collision course with residents

When it bought the freehold of the golf course from Merton borough council for £5.2m in 1993, the All England club agreed to a legal covenant “preventing the use of the land otherwise than for leisure or recreation purposes or as an open space”.

The club says it needs to build the new show court on the protected parkland because there is not enough space on its current site, and it urgently requires higher capacity courts to compete with the other grand slam tournaments.

The club has promised the campaigners, who number in their thousands and include several prominent London lawyers, that the show court will be “a world-class building matching the beauty of its surroundings and paying tribute to the site’s rich history”. The plans, which the club said would enhance its “tennis in an English garden” image, also include 38 ground courts, several ancillary buildings and 9.4km of roads and paths.

“The All England were good neighbours, but local opinion is fast turning against them,” Baker said. “The great majority of locals are scared to death that they are going to wreck the park. They are interested in only one thing and that is revenue and the extra income their new developments on the golf course will generate.”

“I am just one person against the endless wealth and influence of All England Tennis,” Fry said. “As I grow older, my pleasure in life is ever more dependent on the view from my window. The trees, grass and lake of Capability Brown’s landscape. I am devastated and heartbroken that it will be ruined by the All England plans.

Simpson dug out Merton’s minutes from when the council agreed to sell the golf club land on the condition that the All England signed a covenant promising “not to use it except for leisure or recreational purposes or as an open space and not to build on it”.

Tony Colman, leader of Merton borough council, said: “This council is resolute that the land will be retained as open space. All England has bought the land knowing this is our policy and is aware that we would not allow development of the site.”

When Simpson recently wrote to Ian Hewitt, the current All England chairman, reminding him of the covenant and his predecessor’s promise, Hewitt replied that: “I am sure you can appreciate that the requirements of the club and the community have developed in the resulting 28 years and that the AELTC has needed to work to ensure that the championships remain a pre-eminent tennis tournament and continue delivering significant and improved socioeconomic benefits to the local area.”

In a statement, Hewitt said: “Private land covenants do not form part of the public planning process but are to be dealt with outside that process. The AELTC’s view is that it would be appropriate for any discussion/consideration in relation to the covenants to take place once the planning application has been determined.”

Hewitt said the proposed new courts were “vital to the future of Wimbledon – to the hampionships, to the people of Wimbledon, and to tennis in the UK and globally. We need to deliver on these aspirations in order to maintain Wimbledon’s position at the pinnacle of the sport.”

Source: The Guardian

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