"However, the club accepts that if a trust existed, it would interfere with its development plans. In written submissions, Jonathan Karas KC, representing the All England Club, said it would be "anomalous" if the land were found to be held under a statutory trust and that such a finding would mark "a substantive change in the status of the land"."
"He said: "The golf course land has at all times been treated in practice as private land let to a private club. It was sold to [the All England Club] on that basis. "It has never been laid out as a public park, nor have the public been permitted to access it for the purposes of public recreation.""
"The group claims the trust remained in place when the land changed hands in the 1960s and again when the All England Club purchased the freehold in 1993."
A potential statutory trust created under the Public Health Act 1875 may limit use of land proposed for All England Club expansion. The club plans to nearly triple its grounds on the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club site with 38 new courts and an 8,000-seat stadium to host qualifiers. Save Wimbledon Park argues the land is held for public walks or pleasure grounds and that the trust persisted through transfers in the 1960s and the 1993 freehold purchase. The All England Club contends the land was private, leased to a golf club, never a public park, and that any trust did not survive later transfers.
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