The residents’ group fighting Wimbledon’s tennis expansion plans — which include adding one stadium court and 38 further courts to the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) grounds — has High Court approval to proceed with a judicial review of the Greater London Authority’s (GLA’s) granting of planning permission to the AELTC.

In a statement sent on Friday, Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) said it had cited three grounds of legal significance, all of which had been accepted as “arguable” by the High Court. The court will now set a date for the judicial review.

SWP’s arguments relate to the history of the land which the AELTC intends to develop, most recently used as Wimbledon Park Golf Course, a private club.

In 1993, the AELTC bought the land from Merton council for £5.2million ($6.6m). It signed a covenant agreeing that it would not use the land “other than for leisure or recreational purposes or as an open space,” which SWP argues prevents the land being used as what it calls “a private tennis entertainment complex” under the AELTC’s plans.

Its other two arguments relate to the golf course itself having been in breach of a statutory trust which requires certain areas of land to be kept free for public recreation. The AELTC believes that this does not apply to the land in question; SWP believes that it does. It also believes that replacing the golf course with public parkland as well as the new tennis courts per the AELTC’s plans does not supersede the aforementioned covenant.

Jeremy Hudson of SWP said it wants the AELTC to “think again” about its plans. With a lot of obstacles between now and the possibility of the GLA’s decision to grant planning permission being reversed, it’s not clear what concessions the SWP wants or thinks are realistic. An SWP representative did not immediately respond when asked about its desires.

The AELTC said in a statement: “Our plans to transform land that was formerly a private members’ golf club into beautiful new publicly accessible parkland, as well as securing the future of The Championships for generations to come, has been extensively discussed and analysed over the past 3 years.

“We are confident in the process undertaken during this time, including the GLA’s decision to grant planning permission at a public hearing in September.”

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This follows SWP last month confirming that it would challenge the permission granted by the GLA at a public hearing Friday Sep. 27. It named the AELTC as an interested party, along with Merton and Wandsworth Councils.

The GLA issued final confirmation of that planning permission Nov. 18. The Mayor of London’s deputy, Jules Pipe, approved the AELTC’s proposals after a 221-page GLA report found “no material considerations that are considered to justify the refusal of consent.”

A GLA spokesperson said at the time: “The Mayor believes this scheme will bring a significant range of benefits including economic, social and cultural benefits to the local area, the wider capital and the UK economy, creating new jobs and cementing Wimbledon’s reputation as the greatest tennis competition in the world.”

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor, recused himself the planning process in October 2023, after expressing support for the proposals. On Friday, a GLA representative said that the mayor had yet to be formally served with court papers and so it would not be appropriate to comment further.

The AELTC believes its plans will ensure that Wimbledon does not fall behind the Australian, French, and U.S. Opens when it comes to prestige. One of the 39 new courts will be an 8,000-seater stadium, and the other 38 will allow the AELTC to move the qualifying event on-site. That event is held the week before the main tournament starts, and Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam of the four not to already have its qualifying event in the same location as the tournament.

The U.S. Open this week announced that its mixed doubles event will be held in qualifying week, with paid tickets for matches held on the two biggest courts and a Grand Slam trophy awarded before the singles main draws even begin. This was the clearest indication yet of the perpetual arms race between the Grand Slams.

Also in January, the U.S. Open revealed that its singles event will start a day earlier, meaning there will be 15 days of full tournament play as at the Australian Open and French Open, again leaving Wimbledon as the outlier. Tim Henman, a member of the AELTC board and four-time semifinalist at the All England Club, has since told reporters that the appetite for a 15-day tournament at Wimbledon is “zero.”

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(Top photo: Kirby Lee / Associated Press)