{"id":295186,"date":"2023-11-14T09:09:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T09:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=295186"},"modified":"2023-11-14T09:09:03","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T09:09:03","slug":"wimbledon-major-blow-as-tennis-disneyland-plan-for-39-courts-faces-rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/tennis\/wimbledon-major-blow-as-tennis-disneyland-plan-for-39-courts-faces-rejection\/","title":{"rendered":"Wimbledon major blow as ‘tennis Disneyland’ plan for 39 courts faces rejection"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Wimbledon’s proposals to expand the current grounds of the All England Lawn & Tennis Club have been dealt a blow as one of the local councils affected have opposed the plans. Wimbledon Park Golf Club members voted in 2018 in favour of selling the 120-year-old club to the AELTC.<\/p>\n

Plans have since been made to vastly expand the current grounds of the All England Club to include a new 8,000-seater stadium along with 38 new outside courts, likened to Wimbledon’s own ‘Disneyland’. The size of the new development stretches over the borders of both Merton and Wandsworth Councils and they don’t appear to agree on the proposals.<\/p>\n

Merton gave their approval to the plans last month, despite accepting the development would cause “physical harm” to Metropolitan Open Land. The council decided to give their approval because they felt “very special circumstances” would outweigh any harm caused – something Wandsworth don’t agree on.<\/p>\n

Wandsworth officers have advised councillors to vote to refuse the proposals due to ‘inappropriate development on MOL, both by reason of impacts on openness and in principle’.<\/p>\n

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The AELTC need both councils and the London Mayor to vote in favour of the plans before they can commence. A spokesperson for the AELTC told the Guardian: \u201cWe are surprised that planning officers at the London Borough of Wandsworth have recommended refusal of the AELTC Wimbledon Park project, particularly after the London borough of Merton resolved to approve the application following extensive analysis and debate both in their officers\u2019 report and at the planning committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe regret that Wandsworth\u2019s officers have taken a different view but it is for councillors on the planning applications committee to make their own considered decision at the meeting at 21 November.\u201d Fleur Anderson, the Labour MP for Putney, has led the fight from many local residents opposed to the Wimbledon expansion plan.<\/p>\n

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