Wimbledon MP “hugely disappointed” with AELTC, slams Tory bid to rewrite law
- Wimbledon MP Paul Kohler condemned “disappointing underhand tactics” by the AELTC to change law in their favour
- The House of Lords debated a Conservative peer’s amendment that would have given AELTC a free pass in plans to build industrial tennis complex in Wimbledon Park
- The amendment sought to overturn a 2023 Supreme Court precedent by removing key protections over public trust land*
Liberal Democrat MP for Wimbledon Paul Kohler has criticised a controversial amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that would have allowed the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) to sidestep key legal protections on Wimbledon Park, paving the way for their proposed industrial-scale tennis expansion on Metropolitan Open Land. The amendment would have reversed Day v Shropshire, a 2023 Supreme Court judgement protecting all public trusts of land.
The amendment was introduced without publicity and at the last moment by the Conservative peer Lord Banner, only months before a court case between the AELTC and the Save Wimbledon Park residents group (SWP) to decide whether or not the Supreme Court decision applies to Wimbledon Park.
Whilst the amendment was eventually withdrawn, Paul Kohler MP expressed deep concern about this clandestine attempt to retrospectively change the law in favour of the AELTC, and vowed to keep fighting for a sensible compromise. With the potential for the amendment to come back for a 3rd reading, the fight isn’t over.
Paul Kohler MP said:
“Liberal Democrat peers led the fight defending the Supreme Court’s judgment and upholding the public’s right to public land. The AELTC should be talking to the community about a compromise, not undermining our democracy and the Supreme Court, by clandestinely seeking to rewrite the law in their favour.
“It’s deeply troubling, given what the Tories have said locally in Wimbledon, that a Conservative peer tabled the amendment, which was also sponsored by Lord O’Donnell, who serves on the AELTC’s Board. Whilst Lord O’Donnell has rejected any criticism of an apparent conflict of interest, what he fails to have engaged with, when blaming the lack of requirement to register non-financial interests, is he did not have to sponsor or speak on an amendment benefiting an organisation with which he is so deeply involved.
“Despite the AELTC contriving to win the forthcoming public trust case (without bothering with the formality of a fair hearing!) I am delighted they failed. I am hugely disappointed in the AELTC who, despite negotiating with SWP seemingly in good faith, went behind their backs in a grubby attempt to change the law in their favour. However, to misquote Churchill, “talk talk” is better than “law law” and I will continue to support the Save Wimbledon Park campaign and our community in their efforts to reach a compromise with the All England Club.”
ENDS
Further reading:
* The amendment sought to retroactively remove protections land held on public trust, effectively overturning the 2023 Supreme Court ruling (Day v Shropshire) that confirmed such land remains under trust unless proper legal procedures are followed.
The AELTC dispute Wimbledon Park was (and still is) a public trust of land and are due to argue their case in Court next January. However, the amendment to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, currently in the House of Lords, would make the outcome of the case irrelevant. The proposed change to the law would remove the protection currently enjoyed by all public trusts of land, upheld by the Supreme Court just two years ago and would allow the AELTC to effectively win without going to court as it would no longer matter whether or not Wimbledon Park had ever been a public trust. The changes would apply retrospectively from 1980, 45 years ago, comfortably covering the date when the AELTC bought Wimbledon Park from Merton Council.
- The amendment appears on page 101 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill: https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/63032/documents/7181
- Lord O’Donnell serves on the Board of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
- The AELTC’s case is scheduled to be heard in the High Court in January 2026.