Walsall Council has recently been successful in obtaining over £300,000 of grant funding from the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to renovate 17 of our park tennis courts across 8 sites. These improvements include the provision of a gate access systems across 8 sites. When you book a court, you will be provided with a gate access code, enabling the players to enter.
The renovation will improve the designated courts to a consistent standard across Walsall and encourage play across the borough. Renovations will include:
- Resurfacing
- Fencing
- Dedicated tree root works
- New net provision
- Remarking
- Gate access system installation
The gate access systems will help to prevent unwanted use by non-tennis players and reduce the potential for vandalism.
The works are due to start from April 2023 and will take several months to complete.
As a condition of receiving the grant, the council must commit to maintaining the gate access system and the courts through regular service and maintenance and it is required to identify a financial model that will sustainably maintain them in the future. This includes financing improvements to courts that are not funded through this grant programme.
Historically, charging for tennis courts always used to take place when there we had permanent staff in our parks. For the last 20 years, however, as resources have become tighter and we no longer have staff in our parks, there has been no simple way to monitor usage and take payments, so charging was not enforced.
The booking system that is currently in use, along with a new electronic gate system, provides us with the opportunity to introduce charges which will ultimately provide the funding to enable us to maintain the standard of our courts for the future.
The LTA funding is one off and is unlikely to ever be repeated, so it is essential for the future of our tennis facilities that the council identifies a way of generating income to invest back into court maintenance.
This consultation is understand your views on different approaches to charging the council could take, as well as level of the fees.
Project overview
The proposed works have been developed following technical assessment reports from LTA staff, and a costed programme of works from the contractor.
The overview of works proposed on each site is set out below.
| Park Name | Number of Courts | Proposed Renovation / Interventions |
| Arboretum Park | 2 | Gate Only |
| Blackwood Park | 1 turned into 2 | Resurface / Lite Gate / Net Posts |
| Holland Park | 2 | Resurface / Lite Gate / Root Damage / Net Posts |
| Leamore Park | 2 turned into 3 Courts | Wash Respray / Lite Gate / Net Posts |
| Palfrey Park | 2 turned into 3 courts | Resurface / Root Damage / Fencing / Lite Gate / Net Posts |
| Pelsall Park | 2 | Re spray / Lite Gate / Fencing / Mesh |
| Pleck Park | 2 | Resurface / Fencing / Lite Gate |
| Willenhall Memorial | 2 | Resurface / Lite Gate / Root Damage / Mesh |
Payment methods
The clubspark system that has been in use for the last 7 years to book your courts on can be adapted to include charging models to suit the approach to be taken. Depending on whether the decision to adopt a membership / tennis pass plus pay and play booking / or just pay and play this can be created on the system.
Memberships / Tennis Pass can be a one off payment which then allows continued access.
Pay and Play payments can be made each time a court is booked if required.
Approaches being considered.
1. Tennis in Walsall membership
This would in effect allow participants to become “members” of the Tennis in Walsall programme and would give members the privilege of advanced booking for their courts 2 weeks in advance compared to non-members only a week in advance, Members will be able to get the courts they want at the best times ahead of non-members.
Proposed charges would be
- Individual £30
- Junior £10
- Family membership £60 per year.
2. Pay and play only
Courts across Walsall would be charged at a pay and play rate, although some sites and some key times would still be left as free to support those who may not want to pay or cannot afford it.
- Proposed charges would be £3 per court per hour.
3. Tennis Pass plus pay and play options
This would provide the opportunity to buy an annual tennis pass that entitles you to play tennis at any of the Walsall Courts up to 3 hours a day, every day, all year round. Other courts at key times on key sites would be charged at a pay and play rate, although some sites and some key times would still be left as free to support those who may not want to pay or cannot afford it. An example from Bury is https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/stmarysParkBury/Membership/Join .
Proposed charges would be
- Individual – £30 per year
- Junior – £10 per year
- Household – £60 per year
- Pay and Play courts £3 per court
4. Pay and play with no court times left as free to access.
All court times to be charged for use. This could be variable to adjust costing based around peak demand in terms of days of the week and times. Proposed charges would be
- £3 per court per hour at peak times / sites
- £1.50 per hour at non-peak times / sites.
- Principle of free to use courts
There are two different approaches that could be taken in terms of leaving free to access courts
- Charge at some of the key sites but leave some other sites as free to access all of the time
- All courts charge in some capacity but leave a number of sessions as free each day, therefore allowing free opportunities at certain points of the day.
To have your say on the models please follow this link to the consultation webpage. Consulation webpage