58% of Londoners support the controversial expansion of Wimbledon

A majority of Londoners support the controversial Wimbledon expansion, according to a poll by YouGov, the UK’s most respected polling company.

According to this report, 58% of Londoners are in favor of this project being carried out, while only 11% are against it.

Wimbledon bought the Wimbledon Park land, adjacent to the All England Club, in 2018 for around 72 million euros, with the aim of building 38 courts and a stadium with a capacity for 8,000 spectators. However, these lands, classified as green areas, are under the jurisprudence of the neighborhoods of Merton, which already gave its approval for the expansion last month, and Wandsworth, which rejected it two weeks ago the past

This latest rejection means that it is now up to the capital’s city council to decide whether to grant approval or not.

The neighbors’ complaints are caused by the environmental damage that the works will cause and that, according to them, will destroy this green area of ​​the neighborhood that used to be a golf course.

Citizens who supported the expansion in the survey did so because they believed it would create new jobs, as well as be an economic boost for the area, in addition to ensuring the long-term survival of the tournament.

Wimbledon’s aim with this initiative is to expand its current offer of courts, as it has 19 for the tournament, including the training courts located in Aorangi Park, in addition to being able to play in the qualifying phase in the same complex, as other Grand Slams, and not at Roehampton, a few kilometers away.

The London mayor’s office will have to make a decision in the coming days. If this does not go in Wimbledon’s favour, the tournament can take legal action.