Statement About Litigation

There are two court cases currently in progress concerning the AELTC’s proposed development on the former golf course land in Wimbledon Park.

The first case is purely about planning. SWP is challenging the legality of the Mayor of London’s decision to grant planning permission for the development. This challenge is called Judicial Review and SWP is having to fund its considerable legal expense of fighting the case. It is for this case that SWP is actively crowd-funding.

The second case is entirely separate and concerns the legal status of the land. SWP say that the land is protected by a statutory trust, for public recreation, and that the proposed development is incompatible with public rights of access. The AELTC disagree and have started court proceedings to decide the point. SWP has issued the following statement about this second case:

“To resolve the question of whether a statutory trust exists on the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club land, the All England Club currently considers that it is in the public and local community interest to put that question before the court for a decision.

Save Wimbledon Park Ltd has agreed to act as a representative defendant in this case, and accordingly, the All England Club has agreed to cover Save Wimbledon Park's legal costs in order to ensure fair opportunity for both sides to put their case to the court.

Both parties agree that having this matter resolved is an important step in establishing the status of the land.”

Neither of these two court cases addresses the covenants which the AELTC entered into when it acquired the golf course land, preventing building on the land and restricting its use to leisure and recreation. Both the AELTC and London Borough of Merton remain silent about whether the development can proceed with these covenants in force.