Residents’ group launches legal action against Wimbledon Tennis Club expansion Post Reply

[CJInsider]

The Save Wimbledon Park group has launched legal action to challenge the expansion of Wimbledon Tennis Club into historic parkland.
This fight is not just about protecting green spaces but also about upholding legal commitments and preserving the community's rights.
Key concerns include: 
-The alleged violation of a 1993 restrictive covenant.
-The potential breach of public access rights under the Public Recreation Trust.
Read more about the legal case: https://www.cjag.org/2025/01/13/residen ... expansion/

#SaveWimbledonPark #CommunityFirst #ProtectOurParks

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[SWtastic]

This is not reported correctly here - it is not expanding into historic parkland, it is expanding into a former golf course which Merton sold to the AELTC for peanuts a number of years ago.

I get very cross about the campaign, and the seemingly complete acceptance of what the campaign is saying as fact, as you would think Wimbledon Park, an existing and thriving park, is under threat, judging by the name of the campaign group.  It is not - in fact, the opposite - it is being expanded by approximately 30 acres which were never open to the public before when the land was part of the golf course.  There is so much misinformation that has been bandied about which has put off many local people I know from supporting the campaign.

The arguments about the increase in traffic from development etc. seem to have gone away and now a different tack is being taken.  I'm at a loss to understand why the energy of the group wasn't put into fighting on these lines from the start, as it's realistically the only grounds that the decision can be challenged and even then, the fault lies with Merton Council, not the AELTC.

[CJInsider]

This is not reported correctly here - it is not expanding into historic parkland, it is expanding into a former golf course which Merton sold to the AELTC for peanuts a number of years ago.

Take historic parkland as even before the golfclub and the fact that the golfclub is not made of concrete structures as the Wimbledon expansion will be.

The fact is, as it was explained and acknowledge by all party, the golf club was accessible to not only members (that one could obtain easily, instead of being AELTC member) but also to gests. The AELTC project is different and they don't really dispute the fact that most of the new part will be only available during "curated tour" as they explained before the GLA, and closed during most of the best months of Summer.

In addition, the important thing to consider is the conditions attached to the land. The Trust and the Covenant. They have been ignored by the AELTC (and in some respect Merton) as it it was irrelevant. This is a very dangerous route to tell residents that what they were promised is actually irrelevant because politicians have their own agenda.

Indeed Merton bears most of the fault it seems, as a simple straight answer at the start of the project would have been to tell AELTC  that it was not possible for legal reason, period. And make it public.

[SWtastic]

Again, misreporting of the facts.

The golf club was not accessible to all at all.  The waiting list to join was lengthy and you could not just wander around the course at will.  It was a private members club.

The new parkland (that was the golf course) is going to be open all year, apart from a relatively small section which will have restricted access during the tournament and the week before.  It will not be "closed during most of the best months of summer".  This is factually incorrect.

It would seem a robust enough covenant was not put in place, and presumably the legal advice the AELTC received said it could be challenged and overturned.  Again, Merton should have strengthened this covenant before practically giving the land away - the AELTC's legal team would have seen the weaknesses in it during the purchase process.  Merton were not only greedy but stupid to have sold such an asset for such a pittance.  It has been known locally for a very long time (I've been here 35 years) that there was a weak covenant in place.

 

[ronangel]

I remember reading when all this started another covenent going back to the I think 1920s on the uses of the land in future which could not be changed on sale as part of the terms and conditions.This would have carried on when sold by the council regardless of their contract with the new buyers,(which may not have even been valid!). This would prohibit the use of the land in this way.Maybe the protestors should research this carefully going back as far as requierd putting a legal stop to all this stuff! Earler covenents always overide later ones.

[OLBC Group]

The original covenants date back to 1900 and were to settle a legal action taken against Lady Lane daughter of John Augustus Beaumont who bough Wimbledon Park from Earl Spencer and developed a large chunk of it.

The action - Turner vs Lane [docket number 4826] kicked off in The Chancery Division of The High Court in 1897 - concerned various promises that were made by Beaumont to purchasers that they would have uninterrupted wide sweeping views etc.

Copies of that covenant still exist and the interesting thing is that it can be engaged by *anyone* who lives on the old Earl Spencer Wimbledon Park.

The action was ultimately was settled by the production of a restrictive covenant, dated 31st December 1900, that prevented any further developments on what became Wimbledon Park [Wandsworth] and Wimbledon Park Golf Course [Merton]. There is a curiosity in the the wording of the covenant, “The benefits of the restriction mentioned in the First Schedule hereto shall run with the lands coloured yellow blue and brown on the said plan so that every owner of any part of the said lands coloured yellow, blue and brown on the said plans may enforce the same.” [The yellow, blue and brown areas seemingly cover the entirety of the 1200 acres of the Wimbledon Park Estate].
The covenant goes on to state “The restriction herein before contained shall not prevent the land coloured blue on the plan from being used for the purposed the Wimbledon Sports Club Limited or for another there Club constituted on similar lines including Golf, Skating, Cricket, Tennis, Shooting, Hockey, Football, Archery, Fishing, Boating, Cycling, Polo……..but this Clause shall not authorise the use of the land……or create nuisance or annoyance to the residents of the Estate.”
Part 2.3 appears to specifically rule out one of the objectives of the The Wimbledon Park Land Company Limited “No part of the said land coloured Brown nor any building, shop or other erection thereon shall be used as a factory, infirmary, hospital, sewerage farm, cemetery, cremation furnace, rubbish destruction, workhouse, prison, lunatic asylum or any public institution which may likely relate an annoyance to the residents in the locality.”

The covenants were then recited and restated as part of deeds that allowed for some development near AELTC in about 1920’s - can’t off the top of my head remember exactly. But that is on Land Registry. AELTC was a party to those deeds.

The covenants were again recited in further deeds post WWII that again involved AELTC as a party.

The existence of the 1900 deed is recited in the sale of lands by Merton to AELTC.

How enforceable the 1900 deed is now is quite another question.

You can read excerpts from the text of the deeds here but unfortunately we can’t publish the images of them that we have in full as the current owner doesn’t want us to and we have to respect that. It is a very impressive looking document! Land Registry have a copy.

It is worth bearing in mind that Wimbledon Park was bought from Lady Lane by Act of Parliament and to be held by Wimbledon Corporation - the forerunner of Merton.

You can read some of the origional documents and text here -

https://www.olbc.co.uk/john-augustus-be ... -epilogue/

If you are interested there is a collection of early aerial photos (starting 1911) here -

https://www.olbc.co.uk/wimbledon-park-t ... aeltc-era/

And if you are really flush for time you can see exactly where Beaumont ‘borrowed’ the money to buy Wimbledon Park from [with the original bank books and Earl Spencer maps deed plans and deeds] here -

https://www.olbc.co.uk/john-augustus-be ... rk-estate/

https://www.olbc.co.uk/where-did-john-a ... k-estates/

Given how craven and fawning Merton are with respect AELTC there is a real fear that AELTC will bamboozle Merton into closing Wimbledon Park Road - which was created [from a footpath] by….John Augustus Beaumont!