Match point Expansion plan pits Wimbledon against local council

Forget the tennis. A much bigger match will take place in Wimbledon next week as the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) takes on another local council over its plan to build an 8,000-seat stadium on a Grade II*-listed park.

- Rupert Neate

The AELTC will on Tuesday night attempt to convince Wandsworth's planning committee to vote through its proposal to build the 10-storey show court and 38 other grass courts on Wimbledon Park. Campaigners have described it as an "industrial tennis complex".

The 155-year-old club last month succeeded in winning the approval of the planning committee of neighbouring authority Merton, but a small triangle of the park lies within Wandsworth's boundaries.

The AELTC requires the permission of both councils and the mayor of London (and possibly Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities) to go ahead.

Wandsworth's planning officers recommended on Monday that councillors refuse the development because it would "cause substantial harm to the openness of metropolitan open land". In their 123-page report the officers said they did not believe the club's claim there were "very special circumstances" to warrant greenlighting the building work, which would almost triple the size of the tennis championship grounds from 17 to 46 hectares.

The All England Club argues that it needs to expand to ensure that the Wimbledon event "remains the world's premier tennis tournament".