Councillor Grainger's response so far. A lot of detail but important.

Members comments in normal font. Councillor Grainger's response in italics. **My response in bold and starred**

Hi Councillor Grainger,

Following our conversation earlier today, here is an email with my concerns as discussed. I look forward to a response as you promised.

The current operator, VP Tennis Club, has successfully managed this community club from when it had zero members in 2012. The agreement has always been that if VP Tennis increased participation, that WDC would provide the facility upgrades needed. 

We agree that Claire has developed a successful club on the courts at Victoria Park. Her agreement with WDC sets an objective for her to increase participation, but there is no obligation on the Council to carry out facility upgrades if participation levels increase. Any decisions related to investment in any Council facility will depend on a number of factors and is subject to formal decision making by the Cabinet or Council depending on the level of investment.

**WDC's obligation is to provide 10 all weather courts. When did I last have 10 all weather courts? I was told by Tom Duckham (WDC officer) in 2016 that £50000 was to be spent on new courts in 2018 and I had no reason to question him as the courts were beginning to fail. How else does Councillor Grainger expect to provide 10 all weather courts if they are failing? Their option is to either close them or resurface. In 2020 WDC revealed reports from 2019 to say courts had failed when wet and yet WDC employees met with myself and members and said they were fine. These reports were only revealed after asking for help from Councillors. This is not a fair way to operate and has led £11000  in lost income due to cancelled sessions and a chronic foot injury for Claire Pomfret.**

However, so far VP Tennis has had to manage failed courts, delays in resurfacing, lockdowns due to Covid, a forced change in venue due to the Commonwealth Games and now uncertainty about the resurfacing in August 2022 despite it being less than two months away. All of this is outside of their control. VP Tennis was willing to take all of this on and were still providing a full time coaching programme up until this week. However, not on top of all of the above, WDC have announced that there will be a tender process four years before their current licence is due to end. 

We recognise the challenges of recent years. The Council has committed to resurfacing of the remaining old courts post Commonwealth Games and have been working closely with the LTA to confirm these works in the most cost-effective way. We are waiting for the LTA to confirm dates for the works, have emphasised the urgency for the works as soon as the Games are finished, and have assured Claire that we will confirm the dates with her as soon as we have them.

**New courts are no good to me if I'm not going to be the one managing them. My licence is until 2026 and I have met every objective asked by the council. It seems very unjust to have left me to manage your failing courts and then as soon as the new facilities are finally funded to threaten my business. Why not have the tender in 2019/2020/2021. Because no one would want failing courts so I was left with them. Now after I have put in so much work you invite competitors in even though I have an excellent track record and the only issue we have had is the courts.*

The decision regarding the tender process was taken in December 2021 by Councillors (9th Dec Cabinet meeting which Claire attended and addressed) and therefore Claire was fully aware of the process and the reasons for it, giving her plenty of time to prepare for the Tender.  Officers have been keeping Claire updated on the process which is about to commence. She was invited to attend an optional premarket discussion for interested parties but has declined this offer. The rationale for the tender process is included in the Cabinet report.

**I have no intention of going through a tender process that is based on an inaccurate report after 4 years of failing courts. My license is until June 2026.**

The tender is based on an appraisal report in 2021.

VP Tennis has overwhelming support by members and non-members alike, which was highlighted by over 60 positive emails from families during the appraisal. Unfortunately, this was glossed over in the final remarks. 

Positive reference is made to the emails/letters of support for VP Tennis in the report (para 5.31)

Instead, the focus was on money.

However, many points were not considered.

1.     VP Tennis was due to have new courts in 2018. In the 2016 agreement VP Tennis would then have been paying a higher court rental. Instead due to the failing courts, less court rental was paid. This is not mentioned in the report. There was no formal commitment from WDC to resurface the courts in 2018. **Why did Tom Duckham tell me £50000 was for new courts in 2018? Why was St Nics courts resurfaced first? We were told this was because St Nics had higher participation levels in 2018. We have repeatedly asked for the stats here comparing a thriving club with two coaches, a full time coaching programme, 10 teams, singles league, pay and play and free play sessions with the two courts at St Nics that don't have floodlights or a coach. In addition my licence is for 10 courts. Without resurfacing how else did Councillor Grainger plan to ensure I had 10 safe all weather courts as per the licence agreement?

2.     We question the £10000 in clubhouse expenses. What does this include and as we do not have sole use why are they all deemed to be our expenses? If we knew this would be a factor in going to tender we would not have used the clubhouse.  We have shared the costs previously with Claire. I do not understand your comment about these costs being a factor in going to tender then VP would not have used the clubhouse. There has been no tender process to date; the costs of the pavilion do not disadvantage VP tennis in the Options review.

The breakdown of the costs for the pavilion including the toilets is estimated at £9.6k for the year of 2019/20.  Due to the pavilion and toilets being covered by a number of different corporate contracts it is difficult to obtain 100% accuracy on the precise costs for this building and naturally expenditure will vary from year to year depending on events.  NB: this figure excludes utilities costs.  

Costs for 2019/20

Responsive repairs including - fencing, fire alarm, gates, guttering, tennis nets, toilets = approx. £5.5k

Compliance checks and services including  - legionella testing, electrical safety testing, fire alarm testing, intruder alarm, lightning protection equipment = approx. £4.1k

**These costs seem very expensive. We also do not have these costs on an annual basis. We have had the same fencing and nets on most of the courts for 10 years. We also do not have sole use of the clubhouse so should not have 100% of the expenses. In addition WDC have said we now have to buy the new nets as they aren't "fixed objects". This changed in 2020.**

 

3.     We have already offered a sinking fund and support this idea. In 2020 we offered £20000 towards the new courts. Officers have explained previously to Claire why this was not an acceptable option given the terms of her current licence agreement. **I agree it wasn't acceptable as it was a WDC responsibility but WDC did not want to spend ANY money and we would have had to close the club in 2020. I offered £20000 if we could have changed the contract. This was declined. AC Lloyd offered £20000. This was declined. Fortunately WDC received £1.6 million in funding for the park before the Commonwealth Games which meant they could give us £30000. It also goes to show though that VP Tennis agree that a sinking fund is required and are willing to pay a greater court rental so we do not repeat what has happened over the last 10 years with deteriorating facilities.**

4.     When the new courts were completed we only put the pricing up a little in comparison to other venues. This has meant that participation has increased as people can see the improvements but are not put off by steep price hikes. There is no mention of this. 

Charges for VP court hire are agreed with WDC officers each year. The Council recognise the importance of keeping affordable tennis available and this is specified in the tender documents for all potential operators to consider when tendering.

**We wanted to put the pricing up on the new courts but keep the pricing the same on the old courts. WDC said we could not do this so we had to put pricing up on failing courts. In addition, why did St Nics triple their pricing after their resurface? No concession pricing is listed. They weren't bookable coming out of Covid when tennis was one of the few things you could do. They sit empty most of the time. Yet WDC decided to resurface those two first before VP in 2018.**

5.     We independently set up clubspark at no cost to the council. This was members led and did not cost the club anything. Therefore no prices were passed onto the members/non members. Again a small operation can make improvements like this, judging what is best for all concerned.  

The Council were keen to introduce Clubspark at VP Tennis and were very pleased when Claire agreed to do so after some initial reluctance. The Council are now rolling out Clubspark to all our courts and recently completed the Christchurch Gardens installation. The courts at St Nicholas Park and Abbey Fields will follow at appropriate dates depending on the appointment of a tennis operator at these sites.

**The council wanted to use clubspark to take coaching and membership charges as well. We had no need to change what we were currently doing in these areas. It was only for the pay and play that we needed clubspark. We did not want to push pricing up for customers when the council were delaying our court resurface. This led to courts failing. I had to independently research, with members help, the clubspark systems and found that we could just use it for the pay and play. Therefore we could keep other pricing the same for customers who were getting less for their money as it was with failing courts.**

6.     We have offered to buy a proper hitting wall and bike rack for the park. Over the last ten years we are very aware of what the local players would like to improve the club and are willing to work towards this. The Council offered the small hitting wall to Claire some years ago and she agreed to its installation. A larger hitting wall can be considered as part of the refurbishment, and cycle racks close to the courts are being installed as a legacy from the Commonwealth Games

7.     We have not asked for any funding towards the coaching programme since 2014. The coaching programme is sustainable and the only limitation has been the number of safe courts. Again this should be included in the report.  The report was not intended to undertake an appraisal of the way each element was managed. The Council are very aware of the work that Claire has done to build the coaching programme and it is very obvious, and has been acknowledged in reports and presentations to Councillors that Claire is a very professional and respected coach who has delivered a substantial coaching programme at Victoria Park.

8.     The club pays 50% of the coaching courses for level 1 to level 3 coaching staff. Again the report makes no mention of these types of community benefits.  See above

9.     The report does not mention the number of free school coaching sessions, free Open Days or discounted 8 & U coaching available. Again this brings huge benefit for the local community but unfortunately there's no neat figure that you can attach to this.  See above

However, the main criticism of the report is that we are being judged against outcomes we were never asked to fulfil. We were asked to increase participation. Why are we therefore being judged by other financial markers retrospectively? If the goalposts have moved surely we deserve a chance to adapt before we are deemed to be failing? The independent report was commissioned by WDC to assess options for the future. It was not a tender exercise and is wasn’t a question of passing or failing, merely evidence to help officers develop recommendations to put to Councillors.

 

The report also states that all four venues (VP, St Nics, Christchurch and Abbey Fields) do not need to be included in the tender. All four venues were voted to be included in December 2021 by Cabinet. However, already Abbey Fields has been excluded. There is flexibility here. The Abbey Fields courts will be taken out of action whilst the new swimming pool is being constructed and therefore will be out of action until at least late summer 2024. Therefore the advice from procurement officers was that these courts should not be included in the planned procurement but will be tendered at a future date.

 

This petition asks that due to all of the above, WDC show some good will to the current operator and that, like Abbey Fields, the tender is delayed. In this case, that the tender process begins no earlier than June 2024 for Victoria Park.  

Officers have been asked to progress the tender as per the decision by the Cabinet in December 2021.

 

You mentioned that Claire should not be worried by the tender and should just take part, it's just not a fair situation. Why would you cancel a contract of a successful provider, there should be more loyalty shown by the council. 

The rationale for the decision is included in the Cabinet papers from 9th December 2021. This has not changed and Claire does not have a Contract but a Licence.  

 

I and many other parents are very saddened by this situation, finally we had a sport that our daughters took too and that is largely due to the inclusive culture Claire has fostered, please don't ruin this! The Council has no intention to ruin the tennis offering across the district, rather improve it. Any operator wishing to tender for Victoria Park and the other courts will be required to demonstrate that they can meet the service specification that the Council will set down. This will include inclusive tennis for all ages and all abilities; it will include the offer of a specified number of free tennis sessions, affordable charges, and a comprehensive coaching scheme. Officers have encouraged Claire to participate in the tender process going forward and have to date supported her in any way we can to explain the process and offer support, but sadly she has refused.

**I have no intention of taking part in the tender after how VP Tennis has been treated. You are asking me to continue when I don't have a venue, there's no definite resurface plan, I could be on just 2 courts all winter, WDC decisions have decimated my club and my licence goes to 2026. We have repeatedly compromised over the last four years. Presumably WDC have received some funds from the Commonwealth Games using the venue but all we have had is disruption. Yes there's a 6 month notice clause but I did not think WDC would ever use this if we are deemed to be doing a good job. The appraisal highlighted this and we agree a sinking fund is needed. The last two years have required so much off court work and I cannot continue to do more when my sole focus should be on coaching the people who have been patient enough to have put up with the court situation over the last four years.**

Regards