Wimbledon wins High Court battle with residents over £200m expansion plans
Wimbledon’s plans to go almost three times in the size of the tennis site will proceed after a campaign group’s legal challenge against the decision to approve proposals by a Supreme Court judge.
Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) was legally processed against the decision of the Great London authority (GLA) planning permission last year.
The offers presented by All England Club will see the construction of 38 new tennis courts and a stadium of 8,000 people on the grounds of former Wimbledon Park Golf Club, which will allow them to host Wimbledon qualifiers.
For the SWP, lawyers said that the decision to approve plans to the High Court at the beginning of this month was “irrational ve and the Lancelot“ Cable ”BRown, a partially designed heritage site, said Wimbledon Park.
GLA and All England Club defended the challenge, the court said that the decision was “properly used the planning decision” and the restrictions were not “material”.
In a decision on Monday, Mr. Justice Saini refused to challenge this challenge.
“In short, the defendant’s decision on the relevance of the delivery of both legal confidence and restrictive contracts was a planning judgment that was rationally applied and considering the appropriate and relevant factors.”
In addition to the courts and the relevant infrastructure, the bids will see a parking area with seven maintenance buildings, access points and public access with permission.
They would also include work on Lake Wimbledon, including building a wooden around and around.
After the Merton Council approved plans, but after the Wandsworth Council rejected them, the Mayor of London was responsible for the application, but Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan rejected himself from the process after he had previously expressed public support for development.
The planning permit for the program was given by London’s Deputy Mayor of Planning, Jules Pipe, and said that the bids will “facilitate very important benefits”.
All England Club President Debbie Jevans said that offers would offer a 27 -acre “new accessible parkland for the community” and allow the qualifying tournament to be built on the spot for Wimbledon, currently staged in Roehampon.
Sasha White KC, written in written references, said that All England Club won free of charge for the golf field in 1993 and gained rent in 2021.
The lawyer said that the two -day hearing in London was subjected to a legal confidence that requires the elimination of the land for public recreation use, and that when Freehold is acquired, he entered the “restrictive contracts öyle regulating the use of the club.
This means that any plan can not restrict the use of the general public for the scope or clarity of the golf field land, ”he said.
He said that the authorized Supreme Supreme Court continued to see whether there is a legal confidence, and if so, “accepted” that this was “incompatible with the development of the proposal”.
In the court, “Obviously you can not have a more protected land in the planning system,” he said.
Mark Westmoreland Smith KC said that in written references for GLA, Mr. Pipe’s “alleged” confidence and contracts received “detailed advice ve about the“ relevance level ”and decided to assume that they exist.
The lawyer said that the decision was “a planning judgment that is properly implemented and considering the appropriate and relevant factors”.
He said: “Officers said that the alleged obstacle to present to the presentation of development is not an important issue against planning permission.”
In his written arguments, Russell Harris KC said that for All England Club, the planning officers “accepted and evaluate confidence and contracts, but they were not“ material ”.
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