Wimbledon’s controversial plan to expand the All England Club will condemn local children to a decade of “crazy” construction traffic and pollution, school leaders and concerned parents have claimed, in a call for Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan to intervene.
The world-famous tennis club in southwest London won planning permission last September for 39 extra courts and an 8,000 seater stadium on Wimbledon Park.
At the time, Deputy Mayor of London Jules Pipe concluded the benefits of the expansion would outweigh the impact of building work which is scheduled to last at least nine years.
However the plans have continued to face fierce opposition from some locals, and a campaign group – Save Wimbledon Park – is taking High Court legal action next month in a bid to block the development.
On the eve of Wimbledon’s annual Grand Slam tournament, a nursery manager and a former school governor have spoken to The Standard about their concerns about local roads where children walk to and from school being deluged with tens of thousands of construction truck journeys.
They believe Sir Sadiq is risking his legacy on tackling pollution by “waving through” the expansion scheme.
“The Mayor can’t be waffling on about pollution, fining people left right and centre, stopping workmen doing their jobs when they need to do it, and then suddenly say this is OK, in a beautiful great family area, saying the good outweighs the bad”, said the nursery boss.
“He needs to decide where he sits on this – you can’t say you are against pollution and then OK something that causes damage to the area.”
It is understood local school leaders have voiced their concerns privately, but fear losing donations and support from the Club if they speak out against the plans.
The Club says it has received support from local schools, and says they back the expansion plan as a “brilliant example of local regeneration”.
The former school governor, a father-of-two whose children are still educated in the area, said he believes the expansion will lead to “one of the biggest excavation of earth London has seen for some time”.
“It will be eight or nine years as a minimum – name one building project of public interest that’s finished on time and on budget – with traffic going up and down through Southfields”, he said.
“Sadiq Khan made tackling pollution one of his flagship policies – we either want to protect our air quality or we don’t.”
He highlighted the tragic death of schoolgirl Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who died from a severe asthma attack when exposed to traffic emissions, as well as the Mayor’s tough stance on air pollution in the aftermath.
“Air pollution is either a big issue for him, or it’s not”, he said.
The Club’s plan estimates more than 40,000 vehicle journeys during the construction period, and it says a traffic management plan – to be agreed with TfL as well as Merton and Wandsworth councils – will use major roads whenever possible and aim to “minimise the impact of construction traffic on the local and wider highway network”.
But the nursery manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Standard: “I have no idea where these trucks, lorries, deliveries, how they are going to get there.”
She pointed to frequent incidents on the residential streets in Southfields, to the north of Wimbledon Park, where trucks making deliveries get stuck and cause gridlock.
“Everyone walks to school”, she said. “People push buggies in the morning to nursery, children are literally walking to and from school.
“The amount of pollution is going to be crazy. On the school run, there are so many children walking on the pavements.”
She said her family have lived in the Wimbledon area for more than 50 years, and locals love tennis and having the Club as part of their community.
But she said the row over expansion has soured the relationship.
“It’s been presented as you are either for tennis or against tennis”, she said. “That’s not true. Many of the families that come to the nursery love tennis.”
The former school governor said he believes the Club’s “adored brand” can lead people to overlook the environmental impact that the massive expansion plan is feared to be bringing.
“It is not something normally associated with beautiful white shirts and shorts and grass turf”, he said.
The Save Wimbledon Park judicial review is challenging the grant of planning permission by the Greater London Authority (GLA), arguing there has been a failure to consider covenants around the park and environmental and heritage concerns particularly around tree destruction.
It is also disputing that expansion of a private club counts as “alternative sports and recreational provision” under planning law.
The Club says its plan will actually improve biodiversity on the park, as well as bringing parts of it back into public use after it had been a private golf course.
Turning to traffic plans, it says: “Even on the busiest days of construction, the number of lorries accessing our site will be less than half the number of 493 busses travelling on Church Road on a daily basis.”
The expansion plan is also going to include £15m of upgrades to Wimbledon Park, including a new boardwalk around the lake, a water sports centre, and a new children’s play park.
Thomas Moulton, a long-time resident of Wimbledon, says he is in support of the expansion plan because he believes the benefits will outweigh the harm.
“It will have an impact and there will be downsides”, he said, but referred to it as “short-term pain”.
He said previous construction work, including the creation of Number One court, was done “sympathetically” by the Club, showing it “has the ear of local residents”.
“There will be an increase in traffic, there will be an increase in pollution and noise.
“But in the long-term there is probably going to be more to gain, not in my lifetime but for the future generations.”
A GLA spokesperson said the Mayor “believes this scheme will bring a significant range of benefits including environmental, economic, social and cultural benefits to the local area, the wider capital and the UK economy, creating new jobs and green spaces and cementing Wimbledon’s reputation as the greatest tennis competition in the world.”
The Judicial Review brought by Save Wimbledon Park is due to be heard at the High Court on July 8 and 9.
