Save Wimbledon Park / AELTC expansion plans 

I believe the local community most directly affected by ALETC’s plans is strongly against the scale of this development.

I have consistently sought to persuade the AELTC to reach a compromise with local people. I believe that, unless modified, the plans from AELTC will permanently destroy a substantial amount of Metropolitan Open Land, causing up to ten years of disruption and result in a permanent loss of trust between the AELTC and the local community.

When Merton Council sold the freehold of the Wimbledon Golf Club site to the AELTC in 1993 both parties gave public assurances they would never build on the land, backed up with a legally enforceable covenant in the sale agreement. That is why the freehold was sold at such a discounted price as the AELTC never purchased the right to build on the land.

The High Court on Monday 21st July dismissed the first of three legal challenges to AELTC’s expansion plans to build on Wimbledon Park. However, in his judgment, Mr J Saini confirmed the “land is the subject of restrictive covenants which require it to be kept open and free of built development”.

This recent court ruling makes it all the more urgent that Merton Council stops hiding behind the process and gives residents a straight answer. Will they enforce the legally binding promise made to people in Wimbledon to keep this land free from development, or will they continue to dodge the question in the hope it can be quietly ignored? If the answer is no, they need to explain why they are abandoning their legal duty to protect this land, and why they think the word of the Council, recorded in official minutes and backed by legal instruments, counts for so little. You can read more on this here.

I look forward to continuing to work with both the AELTC & the Save Wimbledon Park Group. As MP, I don’t want a decade of litigation and a fight between the AELTC & my local community. In previous projects the AELTC fully engaged with local residents. Given this plan is more ambitious, they should have gone to greater lengths to try and bring people with them & reach a compromise. Residents' voices must be heard. 

You can read more about the ongoing local campaign here.