Much like the protagonists in Charles Dickens’ fictional satire on the English legal system, I fear something similar is happening here in SW19 – due, not to the manifest failings of our civil justice system, but the dogged intransigence of the All England Club.
The AELTC is currently facing triple legal jeopardy.
● The planning permission they were eventually granted by the Mayor of London, after Labour’s Merton’s Council gave, but their colleagues in neighbouring Wandsworth withheld, consent, is once more in doubt.
Earlier this month the Court of Appeal granted Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) permission to appeal an earlier decision of the High Court, dismissing SWP’s application for judicial review, on the basis they had a “real prospect of success”.
● In an entirely separate legal action, the High Court is due to determine, in a case to be heard this January, whether the portion of Wimbledon Park they bought from the Council back in 1993 was, at the time, subject to a public trust of land.
This is important for, according to the recent Supreme Court decision of Day v Shropshire Council, if, at the time of purchase, that was the case, the trust still persists today, because there’s no suggestion the Council complied with the necessary processes that exist to protect such public rights, by transparently terminating the trust when they sold the freehold.
● Even if the All England Club successfully surmounts both the first two hurdles, they still have to confront the biggest obstacle of them all – the legal promises they made in 1993 to never build on the land.
According to the relevant case law, those undertakings, known as covenants, are pretty watertight, provided the party that’s owed the obligation, namely Merton Council, chooses to enforce them.
That’s why Merton Lib Dems have been trying, without success, to get Labour’s Merton Council to publicly state they will enforce the covenants and why, if the Lib Dems win the Council in this May’s local elections, they have pledged to do so, unless an accord is reached.
Thus far, the AELTC has shown little appetite for compromise.
Recently, they even tried to arrogantly sidestep the public trust issue, with the support of the Conservative peer Lord Banner, who tabled an amendment to the Planning & Infrastructure Bill in the House of Lords to reverse Day v Shropshire.
Thankfully, he withdrew it at the eleventh hour, after my Lib Dem colleagues persuaded the government not to accept such a retrospective change in the law without, at the very least, a proper consultation.
Admittedly, the current impasse looks intractable – but things can change very swiftly.
Last month I promised to explain how my new brief, as shadow Northern Ireland spokesperson, was relevant to my constituency.
I will return to that theme in my next column but can I begin by reminding you how, up until the Good Friday Agreement, the Troubles in Northern Ireland seemed as insoluble as Jarndyce v Jarndyce – but then the talking began.
To misquote Churchill, “jaw jaw” is better than “law law” and I’m pleased to report the All England Club have now agreed to another meeting with SWP before Xmas where the latter will try to flesh out a compromise – so who knows where this might lead – perhaps a Yuletide gift is in the offing and sense will prevail.
And on that note can I end by wishing you all a happy Christmas and, the country, a more prosperous New Year.
