Wimbledon Look To Expand Amidst Strange Environmental Concerns
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The Wimbledon Championships organizers seem to be interested in further expanding their venue at the All England Club.
There have been plenty of comments from players talking about how both the men's and women's annual Tour calendars could be improved. Some have suggested shortening the calendars, while others wanted to play fewer mandatory tournaments.
Whilst those discussions have mainly centered on non-Grand Slam tournaments, the Wimbledon Championship organizers have recently announced improvements of their own, and in fairness, many will wonder what their ultimate intended plan is given the growth and investment prospects they are now suggesting, as it is not too cynical to suggest it simply cannot be about Wimbledon qualifying to no longer take place at Roehampton and an uplift in daily spectators.
The leading sports betting sites can only guess at what kind of financial uplift that might bring the All England Club and associated friends and sponsors, but it continues to give those who like a flutter a chance to maybe see a few more players as they make their decisions.
Whilst these changes continue to remain something for the future, Merton Council's planning committee has now approved and provided permission on the All England Club's supplied plans to not only build a new 8,000 seater stadium with a retractable roof on site but also 39 new courts that will be situated on the former site of the Wimbledon Park Golf Club.
Councilors have voted six to four in favor of these improvements, but there are still hoops and hurdles to be jumped as, naturally, there is strong local opposition from residents.
The meeting was actually called to an abrupt halt as one eager spectator in the public gallery accused the council chamber of being a 'climate crime scene.'
If the plans do progress, the additional courts themselves are unlikely to be in operation before 2030 at the earliest. Still, those opposing the development will be heartened as planning officers are on record as saying the proposals would cause 'physical harm' to the Metropolitan Open Land.
Still, the protestors will definitely ignore their further comments that the 'very special circumstances' of the development would mean that the 'substantial public benefits would clearly outweigh the harm.'
Around 75 members of the Save Wimbledon Park organization commenced a gathering two hours prior to the meeting at the chamber to voice their concerns, with one pointing out they wanted to 'stop corporate ecocide' and another offering 'it's not just tennis.'
A used grass tennis court is not akin to an unused former golf course from an eco point of view, but supporters of the proposed development will wonder whether the 75 walked or cycled to their legally entitled protest.
Maybe a bigger story is in finding out why the likes of Piers Morgan, Ant McPartlin, and Declan Donnelly each received £85,000 upon the AELTC buying up the remaining 23-year lease on the site back in 2018 for a clarified £65 million.
For the green campaigners, it should also be noted that plans include a 23-acre public park that is free access all year round, other than during the Championship, and post-Championship, at least seven courts will be made available to the public in an effort to further encourage the next generation of future stars.
This debate will rage on.
