Thames Ditton Lawn Tennis Club
The Thames Ditton Lawn Tennis Club is a lawn tennis club in Thames Ditton, Surrey, England.

It was established in 1882, nine years after the official rules of lawn tennis were laid down. It is the oldest lawn tennis club still on its original site.  Long after most clubs have replaced grass with various types of all-weather surface, Thames Ditton retains six outstanding grass courts and four newly installed artificial clay courts.

Legal history

In the late 1990s, as the lease of the land on which the Club plays came to an end, the survival of the TDLTC came under threat.  The owner of the  freehold wanted to sell the site to a residential developer.  A question was raised in the House of Commons about the vulnerability of sports clubs to greedy developers: Hansard.  The case entered the legal textbooks as Coppin v Bruce-Smith (1998) EGCS 55 (CA).  Briefly:

In Coppin-Smith, the premises comprised Thames Ditton Lawn Tennis Club, which included ten tennis courts and a pavilion, together covering over . The tenants, the trustees of the club, served a s26 request on the landlord, who served a counter-notice stating that he would resist a new lease on ground. Before the hearing, the landlord applied for planning permission for the site, which was refused on the ground of the loss of a recreational open space. The landlord then decided to demolish the buildings and courts on the basis that this would make it easier in the future to obtain planning consent.

At the hearing, the Court of Appeal had to consider whether the landlord had established a 'reasonable prospect' of success (using the test in Cadogan). The landlord's expert gave evidence that the proposed demolition could be carried out without planning permission. The  Court of Appeal considered whether this was correct in the light of the 1995 direction that planning consent for demolition is required only for dwelling houses. It decided that, contrary to the landlord's expert's view, planning permission would be required as the works were more aptly described as engineering works than demolition works. It was agreed that the landlord would encounter the same objection as previously when applying for planning permission. Accordingly, it held that the landlord could not show the necessary firm and settled intention to demolish the premises and was unable to resist the tenant's application for a new lease.

The club today
 Olly Johnson (Chairman)
 Luke Steel (Bar Secretary)
 Richard Simkins (Secretary)

Location
Weston Green Road, Thames Ditton, Surrey, England.

References

External links
 Thames Ditton Lawn Tennis Club
 Government consultation paper on issues arising from the Thames Ditton case
 Hansard's record of questions raised in the House

Sports clubs and teams established in 1882
Tennis venues in England
Sport in Surrey
Borough of Elmbridge
1882 establishments in England
Tennis clubs