PLOUGH LANE PARKING WOES ARE ‘TORY CASH-GRAB’

AFC WIMBLEDON’S new Plough Lane stadium is at the centre of a row between residents who live in the surrounding areas and their local council.

The Dons made an emotional return to their spiritual home last season, after building the new 9,300-capacity ground on the site of the old Wimbledon Greyhound

Stadium, which sat next door to their original dwelling.

And fans of the League One club will be welcomed in proper numbers for the first time on Saturday, August 14 when newly promoted Bolton are the visitors for their first home game of the season. However, the return of supporters after the lifting of Covid restrictions has prompted the introduction of new parking restrictions in the nearby south-west London enclaves of Earlsfield, Tooting and Summerstown.

And locals there are raging that these fresh parking rules hit them in their pockets. While the stadium itself sits in the Labour-led London borough of Merton, that borders the Conservativecontrolled London borough of Wandsworth, in which the three affected neighbourhoods lie.

Labour’s Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (left), the MP for Tooting, said: “Wandsworth Council are using the AFC Wimbledon development as a cash-grab opportunity to fleece local residents. The simple solution here is to restrict parking on match days, a scheme used by other councils with stadiums.”

Locals living around Plough Lane had welcomed Wimbledon’s return after a 30-year exile – but as the Dons prepare to start their first full season there, this wider parking row is kicking off too.