The mayor of London last week issued a last call for objections against the new stadium and would allow Merton Borough Council to make the decision on whether to grant planning permission if no new substantial evidence against the development was received.

However, councillors at Wandsworth Council have been stunned over Mr Khan’s latest decision after he refused planning permission for a much smaller football stadium development in Bromley in June.

The scheme at Bromley would have created a 2,200-seat stadium with 28 homes, while AFC Wimbledon’s new ground – which will be located close to the Merton-Wandsworth border – would result in a 20,000-seat stadium along with a large supermarket and 602 homes.

Councillors at Wandsworth Council are concerned that the stadium at Wimbledon would put considerable pressure on the local infrastructure, mainly concerning congestion at Earlsfield railway station and traffic on match days causing delays to get to St George’s hospital.

Cllr Sarah McDermott said it was difficult to comprehend the reasons behind Mr Khan’s decision to support a major football development that he opposed while he was MP for Tooting.

“Unlike the Bromley proposal, which appears to have widespread support among its local community, the Wimbledon plans have caused great anxiety, especially among people living in Earlsfield and Tooting who will bear the brunt of all the extra traffic and disruption it will bring to the area.

“And unlike some major development schemes in our borough that are making multi-million-pound contributions towards local infrastructure projects such as a new tube link to Nine Elms or the complete redesign of the Wandsworth one-way system, the Wimbledon stadium developers are providing comparably quite paltry sums towards local transport upgrades.

“Understanding why the mayor had performed such a dramatic and sudden U-turn on Plough Lane [AFC Wimbledon’s new stadium] was difficult enough, but in the light of his negative intervention at Cray Wanderers [the proposed Bromley stadium] it becomes completely inexplicable.”

A spokesperson for the mayor of London has added: 

“Sadiq Khan has asked to be able to consider reversing the previous Mayor’s decision to call-in the Wimbledon application and, instead, hand it back to Merton Council to determine. 

"The Mayor’s request is now being formally consulted on, and he looks forward to hearing from all interested parties so he can make the best decision for London.”

Mr Khan has given those against the development until August 10^th to provide any further evidence to block planning permission.