The London Borough of Bexley and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) have agreed on a new partnership that will breathe new life into park tennis courts across the borough.
The project will see £210,357.83 of investment across courts in Bexley’s public parks. The investment has come from the Government and LTA Tennis Foundation’s Park Tennis Project and the Council.
Seven park tennis venues will be renovated to ensure that quality facilities are available for the local community:
- Belvedere Recreation Ground South
- Danson Park
- Northumberland Heath Recreation Ground
- Russell Park
- Sidcup Place
- Waring Park
- West Heath Recreation Ground
The project is part of a £30 million nationwide investment by the Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish thousands of park tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people.
The investment will see existing park tennis courts brought back to life and improve court accessibility with new gate-access technology and booking systems which will be available to book online including via the LTA website, making it far easier to find and book a court or activity.
Work on sites is anticipated to start in February 2024. This will include a mixture of resurfacing, repainting, new gates being introduced on the sites as necessary to ensure that tennis courts across Bexley are of a high quality.
Alongside the investment, the London Borough of Bexley will also work with the LTA to deliver a range of activities across the park sites. This will include weekly organised free park tennis sessions for all ages, playing levels and experience where equipment is provided.
Cabinet Member for Place, Councillor Richard Diment said:
This is a fantastic partnership for Bexley that will completely rejuvenate our parks tennis courts and open up the sport to new and existing players. The project will help safeguard tennis provision for years to come. Once the courts are refurbished players will be able to secure their own dedicated play time by booking their game and access the court by pin-entry system. Reintroducing booking fees, along with free-to-play slots, means that we can ensure the ongoing upkeep of our tennis courts. I hope these improvements will help us see more people in the borough becoming physically active and maybe we will see a future Wimbledon champion coming from Bexley!"
Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer at the LTA, said:
We are delighted to be working with the London Borough of Bexley 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 the London Borough of Bexley 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.”
The LTA and Government funding will provide £187,419.37 and the London Borough of Bexley will be contributing £22,938.47 towards these renovations.
Photo: Belvedere Recreation Ground South tennis court in the London Borough of Bexley compared to recently refurbished tennis courts at Marke Wood Park in Dover (credit Dover District Council)