The charity that runs Wimbledon and Putney Commons will not be able to raise its annual levy above inflation – despite receiving government approval to do so six months ago – until at least 2028, the organisation’s annual open meeting heard last night.
The Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators levy around £41 a year from households within three-quarters of a mile of the Commons. A re-basing of the levy formula, approved by the government’s environment department in January, would lift a funding cap in place since 1990, but a piece of secondary legislation required to bring it into force will not be laid before Parliament this year.
Chairman Mauro Mattiuzzo told levy-payers at the meeting, held at St John the Baptist Church Hall in Kingston Vale, that pressing ministers for a timetable had been met with “obfuscation.” The prime minister’s resignation earlier in the day, he suggested, was unlikely to accelerate matters.
A Common in good health
The meeting’s other news was more encouraging. Oliver Bennett, the DEFRA-appointed conservator who oversees conservation work, told those present that heathland across the Commons was approaching Natural England’s official “favourable condition,” a statutory assessment that the habitat is being managed well. Chief executive Colin Cooper said the Commons had been declared carbon negative: the organisation sequesters more carbon than it emits, with heathland drawing down more carbon even than trees.
At Farm Bog, a rare liverwort called veilwort (Pallavicinia lyellii), found at only two London locations, is now the sole surviving regional population after the other site recently went extinct. Farm Bog holds one of the few colonies in England where both male and female plants are present, making it important for the species’ long-term survival. At Queensmere, which reopened this week after a major restoration project, frogs and toads have already been recorded breeding.
Fundraising and the year’s projects
The charity raised £76,000 in regular donations across four appeals during the year: £27,000 for footpaths, £20,000 for the windmill, £18,000 for horse rides, and £10,000 for a hydrology study. A ball organised by Wimbledon Village Stables brought in a further £19,000 for equestrian paths.
The Friends of Wimbledon and Putney Commons contributed over £50,000 across the year, including £20,000 through a Big Give campaign for new wildlife habitat. The Queensmere restoration was the centrepiece project, a £150,000 scheme whose island (built from excavated sediment that could not be removed from site) was one of its more pragmatic solutions.
Cooper told the meeting the charity was looking to build its fundraising capacity along an “American model” of philanthropic giving for urban green spaces, citing Central Park in New York. The investment fund fell £18,000 over the year, a marked improvement on the previous year’s £69,000 fall, though the fund lost £103,000 in March 2026 alone. The unrestricted funds made a loss of £12,000 for the year ended 31 March 2026, before accounting for investment movements, described by finance committee chairman David Brown as the result of “careful management.”
Updating a 155-year-old rulebook
The charity is also working to update the 1871 Act that governs its operations. One of its anachronisms was on display at the meeting itself: the Act requires accounts to be physically signed by conservators present in the same room. A Section 73 scheme (which would, among other things, address that requirement, allow the charity to charge for car parking on the Commons, and lift the 1990 levy ceiling) has been submitted to the Charity Commission and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. No meeting date has yet been set. As we reported yesterday, the scheme would make the most significant changes to the Commons’ governance since the original Act.
The meeting heard that government departments entitled to appoint conservators under the Act have expressed a preference to relinquish that right. The Home Office vacancy attracted nine applicants; the Conservators ran the selection and chose their preferred candidate.
Windmill, events and what’s coming next
The windmill on Wimbledon Common was struck by lightning in July last year. It was restored within a week by one of the few specialists in the country able to repair it, and is now turning again. The sails run every five weeks on a Sunday afternoon for around half an hour, with dates on the WPCC’s social media.
All Star Tennis has been agreed as the new operator for Putney Lower Common’s tennis courts, with a planning application lodged recently. The courts are not expected to open until the next financial year at the earliest.
The Friends have several events coming up: a nine-ponds walk on 21 July (five Putney ponds, with a second walk in September covering the Wimbledon Common ponds), and a Robert Graves walk on 18 October along the 13 trees mentioned in his writings, ending at the street where Graves grew up in Wimbledon, where his daughter Lucia Graves will give a talk. In 2027, all five elected conservator seats go to the vote; Mattiuzzo encouraged residents to consider standing.
The meeting was held at St John the Baptist Church Hall in Kingston Vale. The original church next door was consecrated in 1861, ten years before the Act that created the Conservators. The accounts were approved and signed at the meeting, as the Act still requires.
AELTC How much more land do they need have they never heard “small is beautiful “ ? They have Queens club in Fulham have 28 outdoor courts.
Roehampton have 18 tennis courts ! This is a travesty obviously money talks AELTC l feel are very powerful. I only hope they invite schools to use their facilities free of charge.