Preserve Trumper Park tennis Courts in Paddington NSW for tennis use only-Goal achieved!
The issue
My name is Timothy Hirshman, and as a lifelong tennis player and resident of the Eastern Suburbs the Trumper Park tennis courts in Quarry St. Paddington are more than just patches of synthetic grass to me. They've been an important part of my local community and my life for many years and I play there every week as do so many other tennis players of all ages. During Covid lockdown in particular these courts provided one of the only permitted sporting activities that was a lifeline for many and the courts were fully booked from dawn until late in the evening. The courts are still always heavily used.
Yet now, these local tennis courts are facing a concerning situation where the Woollahra Municipal Council wants to convert a third of the courts to multi-sport uses, which was not and is not their intended purpose under the Council's own 2023 Plan of Management for Trumper Park. The Plan says the tennis centre is for tennis. The Plan also says that any sporting facility upgrades should follow legislated approval processes and include community consultation to consider potential impacts to local amenity, ie visual, noise, parking, traffic, lighting and the impact of additional usage.
What is the Woollahra Council doing? In June 2024 the Woollahra Council resolved to invite tenders for the lease and operation of the Trumper Park tennis centre. The tender will allow for multi-sport uses of two of the six courts at the centre. Only one of the elected Councillors present at the meeting voted against this resolution (Councillor Merrill Witt).
The resolution did not specify the other sports but presumably these could include pickleball, padel tennis as well as team sports like netball and basketball.
Introducing multi-sport uses will mean:
-the loss of two dedicated tennis courts at Trumper Park, one third of the current number of Council leased courts.
-introduction of sports that can generate more noise and attract more people with greater demand on limited parking spaces in the area with potentially greater activity during evening hours.
Pickleball is usually played on hard courts not synthetic grass courts like those currently at Trumper Park. It is also noisier than tennis due to the number of players and equipment used, according to the comments of the Pickleball Australia Executive Officer reported by the Sydney Morning Herald last year.
In the United States some local councils are looking to remove pickleball courts because of complaints about excessive noise-e.g. news report:
Tennis is a sport that has a wide-ranging appeal in our area. I believe it is crucial we respect the original intended purpose of these tennis courts in fostering this traditional, beloved sport. If the Woollahra Council wants to foster pickleball and other sports it should find other places to create facilities for them rather than reduce the very limited number of public tennis courts in our area.
In 2023 the Council tried to make similar changes at the Cooper Park tennis courts in Bellevue Hill and was only stopped by concerted opposition and lobbying by the users of Cooper Park and the local community.
Now without first carrying out any consultation on this proposal with the users of the Tennis Centre or local residents the Council wants to do the same thing at Trumper Park. Once again only opposition from Trumper Park Tennis Centre users, local residents and the community has a chance of persuading the Woollahra Council to change course and leave the Trumper Park Tennis Centre the way it is.
I urge you to join me in this fight. Our appeal is to keep our tennis courts dedicated to the sport of tennis. Please sign this petition to protect, respect, and maintain our local tennis courts in Paddington, NSW, specifically for tennis. Your support is a step forward in preserving the nature of our community’s beloved sports infrastructure.
The issue
My name is Timothy Hirshman, and as a lifelong tennis player and resident of the Eastern Suburbs the Trumper Park tennis courts in Quarry St. Paddington are more than just patches of synthetic grass to me. They've been an important part of my local community and my life for many years and I play there every week as do so many other tennis players of all ages. During Covid lockdown in particular these courts provided one of the only permitted sporting activities that was a lifeline for many and the courts were fully booked from dawn until late in the evening. The courts are still always heavily used.
Yet now, these local tennis courts are facing a concerning situation where the Woollahra Municipal Council wants to convert a third of the courts to multi-sport uses, which was not and is not their intended purpose under the Council's own 2023 Plan of Management for Trumper Park. The Plan says the tennis centre is for tennis. The Plan also says that any sporting facility upgrades should follow legislated approval processes and include community consultation to consider potential impacts to local amenity, ie visual, noise, parking, traffic, lighting and the impact of additional usage.
What is the Woollahra Council doing? In June 2024 the Woollahra Council resolved to invite tenders for the lease and operation of the Trumper Park tennis centre. The tender will allow for multi-sport uses of two of the six courts at the centre. Only one of the elected Councillors present at the meeting voted against this resolution (Councillor Merrill Witt).
The resolution did not specify the other sports but presumably these could include pickleball, padel tennis as well as team sports like netball and basketball.
Introducing multi-sport uses will mean:
-the loss of two dedicated tennis courts at Trumper Park, one third of the current number of Council leased courts.
-introduction of sports that can generate more noise and attract more people with greater demand on limited parking spaces in the area with potentially greater activity during evening hours.
Pickleball is usually played on hard courts not synthetic grass courts like those currently at Trumper Park. It is also noisier than tennis due to the number of players and equipment used, according to the comments of the Pickleball Australia Executive Officer reported by the Sydney Morning Herald last year.
In the United States some local councils are looking to remove pickleball courts because of complaints about excessive noise-e.g. news report:
Tennis is a sport that has a wide-ranging appeal in our area. I believe it is crucial we respect the original intended purpose of these tennis courts in fostering this traditional, beloved sport. If the Woollahra Council wants to foster pickleball and other sports it should find other places to create facilities for them rather than reduce the very limited number of public tennis courts in our area.
In 2023 the Council tried to make similar changes at the Cooper Park tennis courts in Bellevue Hill and was only stopped by concerted opposition and lobbying by the users of Cooper Park and the local community.
Now without first carrying out any consultation on this proposal with the users of the Tennis Centre or local residents the Council wants to do the same thing at Trumper Park. Once again only opposition from Trumper Park Tennis Centre users, local residents and the community has a chance of persuading the Woollahra Council to change course and leave the Trumper Park Tennis Centre the way it is.
I urge you to join me in this fight. Our appeal is to keep our tennis courts dedicated to the sport of tennis. Please sign this petition to protect, respect, and maintain our local tennis courts in Paddington, NSW, specifically for tennis. Your support is a step forward in preserving the nature of our community’s beloved sports infrastructure.
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Petition created on 23 July 2024