Last week the Deputy Mayor approved the All England Club's planning application to build 39 new tennis courts across Wimbledon Park. But was that decision right or was it wrong?
It was right because Wimbledon is one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world, two weeks in July when the eyes of the world are on SW19. And this is on a surprisingly compact site, barely 40 acres in extent, which somehow contains 18 tournament courts, umpteen practice courts, hospitality venues, circulation space and backstage facilities. How much better things would be if they could extend across the road with a new show court and dozens of practice courts, and throw in a new public park for good measure.
It was wrong because this a greedy landgrab, not just a minor development, the new site being almost double the size of the old. The site the All England Club have got their hands on is 25% larger than St James's Park, for heaven's sake. What's more it's all Metropolitan Open Land so development is permitted only in "very special circumstances", and hitting a few balls about for not many days a year is hardly a justifiable excuse.
It was right because the expansion will allow the preliminaries of the tournament to be played in Wimbledon for the first time, rather than in cramped conditions in Roehampton. That effectively means a three week tournament, not to mention thousands more people who'll be able to attend and experience the Wimbledon magic, not to mention increased gate receipts which can be ploughed back into tennis.
It was wrong because Wimbledon's status as a major Grand Slam tournament isn't exactly under threat unless they expand massively. Three weeks of tennis will also be excessive, especially for local residents who'll now have to endure 50% more road closures, bus diversions, security faff and general commotion, not to mention years of construction traffic, and all because a sports club got all-out hungry for money.
It was right because the site in question is only a golf course. Not only is it a private space there's currently no public access, not even a public right of way across the site, so the tennis club should be praised for opening up the place. What's more the All England Club have owned the lease on the golf course since 1993 so they're not exactly rushing into this. And what's more it was the members of that golf club who agreed to sell up, indeed they've already left.
It was wrong because of course the members sold up, the All England Club offered them all £85,000 each to bugger off. Golf courses aren't exactly uncommon so the members could easily play somewhere else, whereas the opportunity to grab a massive windfall doesn't come up very often. The All England Club have simply been throwing their money about, safe in the knowledge that playing the long game would eventually see them victorious and getting their own way.
It was right because the golf course has been closed since 2022 so it's currently a huge area of wasted space. It was also a condition of the sale of the leasehold in 1993 that the site only be used for recreational or leisure purposes, not housing or any other kind of commercial development, so nobody's going to come along with a better offer than the tennis/park option currently on the table.
It was wrong because the golf course forms part of the wider Wimbledon Park, about half by size, with a proper public park to the east and a large boating lake at the heart of things. The existing park is busy and much-loved but not terribly well connected locally and the opportunity could have been taken to create a major recreational facility for year-round use, not a “tennis industrial complex” that will lie silent for much of the year.
It was right because one arm of the golf course is going to be transformed into an additional park, mostly linear, greatly increasing scenic opportunity hereabouts. A boardwalk will also be created around the lake creating a leisure circuit that's never existed before, and OK it'll all need to be closed for three weeks in high summer to facilitate crowd flow, but that's because the new park also conveniently aligns as a scenic customer entrance.
It was wrong because this is a Capability Brown landscape for heaven's sake. In 1795 he tweaked the trees and rusticated the avenues and dammed a stream to create a lake, and now the tennis crew want to come along and pour tons of concrete across the area. What's more they also intend to cut down 300 existing trees that have been growing around the golf course for decades, and all because these beautiful specimens don't fit with their proposed sporting footprint.
It was right because they'll only be cutting down newer trees, not the category 'A' significant ones, all of which are being retained along with 90% of the category 'B's. As they say in the project blurb, "the removal of the golf course template of trees grants the opportunity to provide a more naturalistic parkland setting throughout", although obviously this won't appear instantly so may not look great initially.
It was wrong because the powers that be simply capitulated to the bottomless pockets of the racketeers. The site straddles two boroughs, and even though Wandsworth said no Merton rolled over and said yes so the decision got passed up to the Deputy Mayor and he passed judgement on Thursday saying "go ahead". The Deputy Prime Minister has already washed her hands, saying the decision should be made at local level, and basically sport and money have won out over community and nature.
It was right because I've walked round the edge of the contentious bit and quite frankly it's nothing special. The trees are nice but the grass looks relatively sterile, as you tend to get on golf courses, so not especially anything you'd fight to preserve. It wasn't always easy to see through the perimeter but even after 20 minutes I wasn't especially enthused, so it's hard to see how a shoal of tennis courts can be worse than a swathe of private land you can't get into anyway.
It was wrong because blimey this site is enormous. It took me 10 minutes to walk one edge of the proposed park and another 15 minutes to walk the intended dividing line between old courts and new. You could do all sorts with the land, specifically creating an extended Wimbledon Park properly integrated with the existing public space, creating a biodiverse recreational masterpiece with a lovely lake in the middle. Alas, that's now never going to happen.
In summary it's both practical and greedy, both a necessary expansion and an obscene landgrab. It is thus both right and wrong, and I heartily recommend walking around the edge of the contested land rather than jumping to conclusions from afar.
