Wimbledon Park Protest Held Outside High Court

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Deliberations begin on legality of AELTC's development plan

Simon Wright Save Wimbledon Park at the rally

July 14, 2025

Dozens of campaigners have rallied outside the High Court, as a two day judicial review into plans to expand the home of Wimbledon tennis began this Tuesday (8 July).

Plans were approved last September for the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), which runs the Wimbledon Championships, to build 38 tennis courts and an 8,000-seater stadium on the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club, nearly tripling its site.

Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) has fiercely opposed the scheme and crowdfunded £200,000 to bring the judicial review against the Greater London Authority (GLA) approval of it, which it claims was unlawful because the GLA failed to properly take into account key redevelopment restrictions on the land. The GLA and AELTC dispute that the restrictions exist, and argue the decision to approve the project was rational.

Sasha White QC, representing SWP, told the court today, “You could not have a more protected piece of land in London.”

He said the site was Metropolitan Open Land (MOL), which had the same protections as green belt, while it was Grade II* listed and protected from redevelopment by restrictive covenants. He added all trees on the site were protected by preservation orders and that it fell in the Wimbledon North Conservation Area.

Mr White argued the GLA made its decision unlawfully by failing to properly consider the implications of the restrictive covenants and a statutory trust he claimed the land was subject to, requiring it to be kept available for public recreation, on the proposals. He urged the judge to overturn the planning permission and reconsider the scheme.

A separate court case is due to be heard in January over whether the land is protected by a statutory public recreation trust. AELTC maintains there has never been such a statutory trust affecting the land.

AELTC has owned the freehold of the site since 1993, which it leased to Wimbledon Park Golf Club until 2018. It wants to build the courts on the former golf course opposite its existing site on Church Road, nearly tripling its footprint, so qualifying matches for the world-famous tournament can be played there.

The private members' club argues the development will open up land that has been inaccessible to the public for more than 100 years, including through the creation of a new 23-acre public park. It says the development will “secure the future of the Championships” and create “year-round benefits for the local community”. It argues covenants are not considered in the planning process.

 

Campaigners opposing the scheme gathered outside the court with banners on Tuesday, singing and chanting “save our park” and “love tennis, hate concrete”. Comedian Andy Hamilton told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the plans would set a “dangerous precedent” for other private commercial developments to come forward on protected land.

Mr Hamilton said, “I think it's absurd. It's absolutely huge, needlessly huge. It's basically a very rich private members' tennis club looking to make itself even richer, and to do that they've got to flatten a series of hills, fell hundreds and hundreds of trees, build an industrial-scale tennis complex… the reasons they give out, which is we need to save the pinnacle of our tennis, that's nonsense because they're a unique tournament.”

He added, “There's an absence of trust. They first bought the land in 1993… there was a commitment, a covenant, saying they wouldn't develop the land and they've been less than transparent.”

Andy Hamilton at the protest outside the High Court

Simon Wright, a member of SWP, told the LDRS the decision made by the GLA was “the wrong one”.

He said, “It's David versus Goliath on a massive scale. AELTC are incredibly rich, they're incredibly well connected, but they're a private members' club. There's no scrutiny of what they do, there's no accountability, and we think they shouldn't be allowed to affect so many people's lives for two weeks of the year. The other thing to say is we love tennis, we all love tennis, we just like tennis the way it is rather than the way they want to make it.”

Fellow protestor Susan Cusack said SWP's campaign had attracted “incredible” support and members felt hopeful about the outcome of the legal challenge. She added, “We are feeling very confident. We have every hope in the British judicial system and we think we have a very, very good chance of winning.”

Susan Cusack

AELTC submitted a planning application for the project to Merton and Wandsworth councils in 2018, as the site straddles the boroughs. It was refused by Wandsworth but approved by Merton in 2023. The case was then considered by the GLA, which approved it last September.

Jules Pipe, the GLA's Deputy Mayor for Planning, said at the time the project would “bring significant benefits to the local area, the wider capital and the UK economy, providing increased access to open green space and sport, new parkland and a host of new jobs”.

CGI of the aerial view of the completed scheme. Picture: AELTC

The two-day judicial review, which concludes this Wedneday (9 July ), will rule on whether the GLA's approval of the scheme was unlawful. A judgement is expected to be provided in writing in due course.

Charlotte Lilywhite - Local Democracy Reporter