(Reuters) – Britain’s All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) was granted planning permission on Friday by the Greater London Authority for a huge expansion project for the Wimbledon Championships.
Plans to transform the adjacent golf course and park with 38 new courts had proved controversial but the AELTC was given the green light at a public hearing at City Hall.
The new courts, including an 8,000-seater stadium on the adjacent grounds, will bring qualifying for the grass court Grand Slam on site in line with other majors.
“These plans for the site of a former private golf course will bring significant benefits to the local area, the wider capital and the UK economy, providing increased access to open green space and sport, new parkland and a host of new jobs,” Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and the Fire Service, said on Friday.
“Hosting qualifying events on the same site as the Championships will put Wimbledon on a global footing with other Grand Slam tournaments and ensure it remains one of the world’s top sporting events.”
The ambitious scheme had been given the green light by the London Borough of Merton last year but the planning committee of neighbouring Wandsworth, where a small section of the AELTC’s plans come under, had turned it down.
The decision was subsequently referred to the Greater London Authority, which last Thursday recommended that the Deputy Mayor of London should grant conditional planning permission.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan had excused himself from the process due to his public support of the plan three years ago.
Opponents of the project, including thousands of people under the banner “Save Wimbledon Park” have said that the club’s plans would cause environmental damage and major disruption for the best part of a decade.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru)
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