Swansea Council and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) have announced a partnership to invest in and refurbish a number of public park tennis courts.
In total, four park tennis venues covering 11 courts will be renovated, with investment of £120,797.90 helping ensure that quality facilities are available for the local community for generations to come.
The park venues being renovated are Coed Bach (Pontarddulais), Cwmdonkin (Uplands), Victoria (St Helen’s) and Coed Gwilym (Clydach).
The project is funded by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation as part of a £30m nationwide investment, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people.
Over 1,500 courts have been completed as part of the project so far, through which existing courts in poor or unplayable condition are brought back to life for the benefit of communities across the country.
The result is renovation works and improved court accessibility with new gate-access technology and booking systems making it easier to find, book and get on court.
The refurbished Swansea courts are a further boost to the outdoor leisure experience, and will complement the ongoing investment across the city of millions of pounds in public spaces such as children’s playgrounds and new skate and BMX facilities.
The refurbished courts will provide more opportunities for children and adults to get active, delivering health and wellbeing benefits.
The LTA say that accessible facilities in parks are particularly critical to opening up the sport to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and women and girls.
Alongside the Swansea investment, the council and Tennis Wales in the Park – as site operators – will also work with the LTA to deliver a range of activity across the park sites.
This will include weekly organised free park tennis sessions for all ages, playing levels and experience where equipment is provided. People will not need someone to play with or their own racket. Local tennis leagues will provide friendly opportunities to get active.
All courts and sessions at all sites will be available to book online via the LTA website.
Work has just started at Cwmdonkin, with the four sites due to be completed this spring.
Council cabinet member Robert Francis-Davies said: “We welcome this grant funding and thank Tennis Wales and the LTA for their support.
“Swansea is a city of sport and the improved facilities will mean better courts for all those who already love playing tennis, or for those that wish to give it a try.
“We’ve talked to key stakeholders, local representatives and other councils that have adopted the system. The modest fees paid to use these excellent high-quality courts – aligned with charges at similar facilities across Wales – will help us to maintain and invest in the courts long term, at a time when council budgets are under pressure.
“We’ll keep park users up to date on the schedule of improvement works and, as their local courts will be out of action for a short period to facilitate the work, we thank them for their understanding.
“We hope that everybody who plays on the courts will get huge satisfaction from them.”
LTA chief operating officer Julie Porter said: “We’re delighted to be working with Swansea 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’ll work closely with the council to ensure that the community have a range of accessible opportunities to get on court and open up our sport to many more people.”
