Former Coronation Street actress, 99, promises to chain herself to grounds over Wimbledon plans

A 99-year-old actress has promised to “chain myself to the grounds” if Wimbledon’s controversial expansion goes ahead.

Thelma Ruby, who appeared in Coronation Street and on stage alongside Topol and Orson Welles, told a protest meeting in nearby Southfields that she will take any action necessary to maintain the view from her top-floor flat on Church Road.

“Let them arrest me,” Ruby insisted. “I live in a flat overlooking this magnificent landscape, which was designed by Capability Brown. And I see beautiful trees going down to the lake.

“The club talk about planting new trees, but can you imagine how long it would take for newly planted trees to give the benefits that we now get from mature trees? I look several times a day out of the window and it gives me strength to carry on. It gives me inspiration.”

Jules Pipe, the deputy London mayor, is set to rule on Friday on the All England Club’s much-contested plans to build 39 new grass courts on what used to be the Wimbledon Park Golf Course.

Planning officers for the Greater London Authority last week issued their support for the proposals in a 221-page report. The same report calculated that the development would deliver £336 million of annual benefits and create 40 permanent jobs.

‘We have aces to serve and are here for the long haul’

But on Monday night, representatives of the Save Wimbledon Park (SWP) campaign insisted that “it’s still all to play for” as they drew around 400 local residents to a campaigning event at a church in nearby Southfields.

“We are very keen to make it quite clear that we are not Nimbys,” said Christopher Coombe, a retired lawyer who was the main speaker at the meeting. Coombe also insisted that planning permission is not a done deal, saying “We are just entering the third-set tie-break, and have plenty of aces to serve. The fourth set is the Secretary of State and the fifth the courts. We are in it for the long haul.”

The objectors will have 15 minutes to speak at Friday’s meeting. Their team for that short window will include Coombe and three councillors from the Borough of Merton.

The AELTC have come up against a well-organised campaign over the six years since they spent £65 million on buying out the members of Wimbledon Park Golf Club. While the proposers insist that a majority of local residents favour their scheme, many people involved in the SWP movement feel that they have been treated lightly.

Objections to ‘entitled attitude of club’

“We were very disappointed with the conclusion [of the GLA report],” said SWP’s Nick Thomas on Monday night. “It places great store on the representations made by AELTC and very little on those of the objectors.

“We haven’t objected to the expansion,” Thomas continued. “We have objected to the scale of it, and the entitled attitude of the club, and their notable refusal to sit down and discuss how a compromise might be reached.”

Over the course of 90 minutes, the meeting in Southfields featured a variety of suggestions. One speaker argued that Wimbledon’s qualifying event – which will move to the former golf-course site if the AELTC’s plans are approved – should move around the country like golf’s Open Championship. One member of the audience called for a mass protest on Wimbledon Park.

On Friday, campaigners hope to undermine the conclusions of last week’s planning report, arguing that – in the words of local architect Ken McFarlane – that “the GLA have not demonstrated the ‘very special circumstances’ that are required for development on Metropolitan Open Land”.

Another possible line of attack would involve an appeal to the Supreme Court, which last year overturned planning permission for a housing development in Shropshire on the grounds that the land was protected by a 100-year-old statutory trust. Coombe argues that this case is relevant to the AELTC’s plans, as both developments involve building on public land.

Last week, AELTC chair Debbie Jevans welcomed the GLA planning report, saying: “We believe that these plans will deliver one of the greatest sporting transformations for London since 2012. The land that we propose to enhance has been used as a private members’ golf course for well over 100 years and, as a core part of this project, we will create 27 acres of beautiful new parkland, free for the public to access and enjoy.”