Tennis? In Wimbledon? Not in my back yard, you don’t!

Ah dear reader, it’s a silly old sort of week, isn’t it? We have a new housing minister… again, he is called “Number Sixteen”… I don’t bother learning their names anymore, by the time I remember it, a new one is in post. So now we catalogue their failures according to a numerical system by which we identify them.

Anyway, that’s not what I want to pontificate about this week.

If I said Wimbledon to someone, I meet in say, Timbuktu, the immediate association they would make would be “tennis”. In fact, I would even say that Wimbledon is as synonymous with England as the King, Big Ben and Tower Bridge. It’s one of our major exports, it’s one of the four global grand slam tennis tournaments. It is of international importance, it’s an annual event that gets global coverage.

Now recently, the The All England Club's submitted proposals to build 39 new tennis courts, including an 8,000-seater show court at Wimbledon Park to the London Borough of Merton (the largest part of the site) and the London Borough of Wandsworth (a tiny bit at the north of the site).

Merton Council, which is responsible for all but the most northerly part of the land, voted in favour of the scheme last month and the planning officers, very sensibly, accepted the proposals would result in "physical harm" to Metropolitan Open Land, but concluded "very special circumstances" meant "substantial public benefits would clearly outweigh [the] harm". And they were quite correct.

Officers at Wandsworth Council however, have recommended councillors refuse planning permission as the development on Wimbledon Park would be "inappropriate" and cause "substantial harm" to the land and also decided that there are no "very special circumstances" that would outweigh the harm caused…they concluded that: "The proposed development would result in the net loss of open space/green infrastructure, with no replacement provision provided”.

The All England Club has promised to create a new 23-acre public park in the spirit of the original design of landscape architect Capability Brown. At least seven of the grass courts would be made available to the local community for the summer weeks which follow Wimbledon.

But local NIMBYs has been vocal, and members of the Save Wimbledon Park organisation protested outside the chamber when Merton Council met to vote on the issue and they got a 14,000 signature petition. Wandsworth’s Planning Committee is determining the application next week… no doubt accompanied by a chanting mob of NIMBYs.

I find it absolutely mind boggling that NIMBYs could be so short sighted and even more bewildering that one council’s planning department could view something so differently from their neighbours.

I just hope that the Wandsworth Planning Committee is more sensible otherwise I won’t have any conversation openers the next time I am in Timbuktu!

Until next week,

Henry