By Sam Tobin and Amy-Jo Crowley
LONDON (Reuters) -Wimbledon’s plans to expand the grounds for the world’s oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam in tennis came under scrutiny on Tuesday as campaigners’ challenge to the expansion began at the High Court in London.
Campaign group Save Wimbledon Park is taking legal action over planning permission granted to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), which wants to treble the size of its main site in a 200 million-pound ($271.5-million) project.
The expansion would feature 39 new courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, could increase daily capacity from 42,000 to 50,000 people, and allow qualifying rounds to be held on site, which has been home to the Championships since 1877.
The AELTC’s plans to redevelop a former golf course which it owns are supported by several leading players, including Novak Djokovic, and some local residents. Planning permission was approved by the Greater London Authority (GLA) last year.
But Save Wimbledon Park says the GLA failed to properly take account of restrictions on redeveloping the land, which were agreed when the AELTC’s parent company bought the Wimbledon Park golf course freehold in 1993.
The group’s lawyer Sasha White said the land is part of a registered park of special historic interest and located in a conservation area, telling the court: “You could not have a more protected piece of land in London.”
TWO LEGAL CASES
About 250 of the group’s supporters gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice before the two-day hearing, with one holding a placard bearing three-time Wimbledon men’s singles champion John McEnroe’s catchphrase: “You cannot be serious.”
Wendy Wright, a local resident, told Reuters that the expansion could lead to other pieces of protected land in the British capital being developed.
“If one goes down then it sets a legal precedent for all the others,” she said outside court.
Lawyers representing the GLA and the AELTC, however, say the plans were lawfully approved and the impact of any restrictions on the land were not relevant to planning permission.
The AELTC also argues that the planned expansion would have significant benefits for the local community and secure the future of Wimbledon at its current site.
The start of the hearing on Tuesday – which coincides with the singles quarter-finals – is one of two at the High Court concerning Wimbledon’s expansion plans, with a vital hearing due in January.
In that case, brought by the AELTC against Save Wimbledon Park, the club is seeking a ruling that the golf course land is not subject to certain restrictions – and accepts that the restrictions would make expansion impossible if they were to apply.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Amy-Jo CrowleyEditing by Christian Radnedge)
