Please support our campaign to protect Victoria Park Tennis Club from a damaging agreement between Warwick District Council (WDC) and the Commonwealth Games (CWG) that will limit the local community’s access to safe tennis courts from 2020 and will cause a highly valued local coaching business to cease trading.

Victoria Park Tennis Club, located in the centre of Leamington Spa, promotes low cost, open access tennis for the local community and provides high quality coaching to both club members and the general public. Courts are available on a pay-and-play basis all year round and also on a free-to-play basis at regular times across the week ensuring there are no financial barriers for anyone that wishes to play.

These facilities are a wonderful resource for all with players relying on them for both their mental and physical wellbeing. However, they are now under threat due to a lack of proper maintenance that has led to a deterioration of the court surfaces and has made some areas unsafe for use. One court has already been decommissioned and a safety notice has now been installed by WDC at the entrance to all courts.

Discussions regarding resurfacing have been on-going with WDC for a number of years during which time assurances have been offered but limited action has been taken. The court surfaces are now 16 years old, double their recommended life span, and work should have been undertaken many years ago based on the level of social tennis and coaching that the courts are expected to support.

The agreement by WDC to allow CWG to use the courts as a media facility for coverage of the bowls competition will completely destroy the structure of the courts due to the heavy weight of equipment to be installed. Unfortunately WDC doesn’t deem it appropriate to resurface the courts before the event, despite their poor condition. They have offered to perform a gentle clean of the surfaces in the short-term to try to prolong their condition, however the club has been assured that the current level of deterioration is so significant that this will not provide any real benefit and full resurfacing is the only viable option.

There is an additional agreement between WDC and CWG that the courts should be returned to their previous condition after completion of the event. Resurfacing plans would still be subject to budget approval by the council though so there is no guarantee of the work going ahead and this will not prevent loss of the vital local facility in the short-term.

Unfortunately, if resurfacing work is not undertaken with some urgency the number of courts available to the community will continue to fall, coaching sessions provided by the club will cease from as early as October 2020 and a successful local independent business will be forced to close.

In order to protect the future of the Victoria Park Tennis Club for the local community please support our petition to obtain the following commitments from Warwickshire District Council in partnership with the Commonwealth Games:

1. Commitment to maintain the courts to a safe standard in the lead up to commencement of the Commonwealth Games by following advice of experts to resurface the courts as a matter of urgency
2. Commitment to resurface the courts immediately after completion of the Commonwealth Games

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