Judge says campaigners have raised arguable grounds to challenge approval of 200m schemeAllies & Morrisons proposals for the 8,000-seat showcourtAllies & Morrisons plans to treble the size of the Wimbledon Championships grounds have been thrown back into limbo by the High Courts decision to allow a judicial review of the schemes planning consent.Campaign group Save Wimbledon Park launched a legal challenge at the beginning of January against the Greater London Authoritys approval of the 200m plans, arguing that it had made errors of law and planning policy.The court has now accepted all three of the groups grounds for a judicial review, with Justice Lang saying this week that the bid had raised arguable grounds which merit consideration at a full hearing.Aerial view of the proposals, showing the existing tournament grounds on the left with the expanded site on the rightThe proposals, the largest expansion in the grand slam tournaments history, would add 38 new tennis courts and an 8,000-seat show court on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) neighbouring the All England Lawn Tennis Clubs (AELTC) main site in Wimbledon.> Also read:Relief for Wimbledon as City Hall overturns local councils rejection of 200m expansion plansBut the scheme has been bogged down by planning disputes since autumn 2023 when Wandsworth council, which covers around 10% of the site, voted to refuse the application due to concerns over the loss of public land. The remaining 90% of the site is located within Merton council, which had approved the scheme two weeks earlier.The scheme was then thrown a lifeline in January 2024 when the application was called in by City Hall and finally approved by deputy mayor Jules Pipe in September following a series of design changes intended to increase public access to the site from the neighbouring Wimbledon Park.But Save Wimbledon Park argued in its judicial review bid that the decision had failed to take into account restrictive covenants on the land which the group said would prevent the proposed development.The group is also claiming that a proposed private tennis entertainment complex is not an alternative sports and recreational provision as required by planning policy.The site, which is currently occupied by a golf course, comprises the western half of the remnants of an 18th century landscaped garden designed by Capability Brown.The AELTC had argued that scheme would include heritage benefits by removing the golf course and partially restore of the landscaped park.However, Save Wimbledon Park countered that that the golf course development was in planning policy terms deliberate damage to this historic heritage asset, such that the rectification of such damage should not count as a benefit.Jeremy Hudson, speaking on behalf of the campaign group, said legal action had been launched because the community feel strongly that this precious, historic and highly protected environment should be preserved from inappropriate development, be allowed to remain accessible, and continue to be available for community use for sport and recreation.He added: This step is not just for our local community but also important for many other Metropolitan Open Land spaces under threat of development.The court will now set a date for the hearing.The AELTC said: Our plans to transform land that was formerly a private members golf club into beautiful new publicly accessible parkland, as well as securing the future of The Championships for generations to come, has been extensively discussed and analysed over the past three years.We are confident in the process undertaken during this time, including the GLAs decision to grant planning permission at a public hearing in September.The deputy mayor concluded in the September hearing that the scheme would provide very significant public benefits that would clearly outweigh any harm done to public land.Pipe had also argued that, while the development would be inappropriate on MOL, in practice the land, which has been the site of a golf club, has been extremely constricted for the past century, principally to fee-paying golfers.The AELTC has said the expansion is needed to maintain the global prestige of Wimbledon, which is currently the only grand slam tournament which is unable to hold qualifying rounds on its own grounds.