“World Leading” Wimbledon and Beyond

There is no better example of Britain truly ‘leading the world’ than Wimbledon.

Not necessarily on the court, one must admit, but off it it certainly is. Despite a devastatingly rainy day, the latest in a series of events, the All England Club yesterday was a celebration of colour and sporting success.

Needless to say, like so many things Britain is good at, life is harder than it needs to be. Plans to expand the neighbouring golf club, owned by All England and which wants to turn it into a new public park for around 40 weeks of the year, should have been easy to approve, but they’ve been bogged down in bureaucracy and endless planning disputes. Expanding the championship and hosting qualifiers on-site would free up more cash for the All England Club to distribute to local community groups and the national elite game; an investment in the next Emma Raducane or Andy Murray and, of course, Liz and Lily and the ladies who lunch at the local tennis club.

The decision now rests with the Mayor’s office after there was a disagreement between Merton and Wandsworth wards.

Predictably, the area’s new Liberal Democrat MPs are opposed to expansion, as the only liberal thing about that particular party, led by Ed Davey, is that it embraces policies that are almost completely at odds with liberalism itself.

Hopefully that feeling will prevail, but the endless debate and cost speak to the importance of Labour’s proposed planning reforms.

While local stakeholders will inevitably lament the construction, the complete devolution of responsibility to local authorities and local politicians under the previous administration has stifled Britain’s economic growth year after year.

We firmly believe that central planning is bad news for any economy.

Our evidence shows that in every country that has tried, central governments have approved projects that are entirely funded by the private sector, delayed by endless local bureaucracy.it has some merit, especially when local politicians are unwilling to embrace medium- or long-term economic growth and are focused only on the short-term need to be re-elected.

Build, build, build, at Wimbledon and beyond.