Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council and the LTA have announced a partnership to invest in and refurbish public park tennis courts across the borough. In total, three park tennis venues will be renovated, with investment of over £171,500 helping ensure that quality facilities are available for the local community.
The project is part of a £30million nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people. This investment will see thousands of existing park tennis courts in poor or unplayable condition brought back to life for the benefit of communities across the country through renovation works, and improved court accessibility with new gate-access technology and booking systems. Over 1,500 courts have been transformed through the project so far.
Park tennis courts are vital in providing opportunities for children and adults to get active, delivering significant physical and mental health and wellbeing benefits to participants. Providing high quality tennis playing facilities in local parks will open up this sport to many people from local communities.
In addition to investment of £168,000 from the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, £3,500 will also be invested by Redcar & Cleveland Council to renovate Zetland Park, Locke Park and Borough Park.
Once completed, the Council and a to-be-appointed tennis operator will work with the LTA to deliver a range of community activity across the park sites. This will include weekly organised Free Park Tennis sessions delivered by local volunteers for people of all ages, playing levels and experience where equipment is provided. Local Tennis Leagues will also provide friendly, sociable, opportunities to get active through local competition.
At other times, a small court booking fee will be introduced to ensure that the courts are maintained at their new high standard for years to come. All funds raised will go towards ensuring that refurbished courts can be maintained for the benefit of local communities for many years to come.
Once works have completed, courts and sessions at all sites will be available to book online via the LTA Play Tennis website [lta.org.uk/play], making it far easier to find and book a court or activity.
Work on sites has recently started and is anticipated to be completed by late Spring.
Cabinet Member for Health, Welfare and Housing, Cllr Ursula Earl said:
“We are thrilled to be one of the areas in the country to receive such a significant investment for our park venues which will revamp the tennis courts in three of our parks. Sport activities such as tennis can improve physical health, wellbeing and even mental health, thus we are looking forward to working closely with LTA on this project which will certainly have a positive impact on local communities. Once the courts have been refurbished, various sessions, activities and events will be held to give everybody the chance to learn and practice tennis and make the most out of our parks.”
Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer at the LTA, said:
“We are delighted to be working with Redcar & Cleveland Council to improve their park tennis facilities and provide more opportunities for anyone to pick up a racket and get active. This investment is part of the UK Government and LTA’s Parks Tennis Project, and will mean that courts will be available for people to use for years to come. We will also be working closely with Redcar & Cleveland Council to ensure that the local community have a range of accessible opportunities to get on court, and open up our sport to many more people.”