By Spencer Vignes, Freelance Sports Writer, A newly pin-locked tennis court, Victoria Park, Cardiff. Image, Spencer Vignes.
It began in Newcastle back in 2017. By the following year it had spread to Brighton and come 2018, it was the turn of Bristol. Now, in 2021, it’s arrived in Cardiff, with the whole of Wales set to follow. This is the increasingly underhand race to privatise Britain’s council tennis courts, and it is showing no sign of slowing down.
“The first I knew that something was happening to our courts was when a security gate with a code pad was installed out of the blue at the beginning of April,” says Jane Lewis of Canton, who has played tennis on the council courts in Victoria Park for the past 12 years. “Next to the gate was a sign saying that, from now onwards, the courts would only be available through a booking system operated by the Lawn Tennis Association, involving membership and subscription rates.
“Our courts have been free to use for as long as I can remember. They’re an important hub in the local community for people who want to play for fun. Council courts have always fulfilled a really important first step on the tennis ladder for many people who might be learning the game or don’t want, or can’t afford, to join a tennis club.
“Our courts are used by many people, including children, who can’t afford to pay fees, subscriptions or membership rates. As of now, they will be priced out of playing. Tennis will simply no longer be an option for them.
“At a time when the Lawn Tennis Association is making a big song-and-dance about making the sport available to everyone, and when people are being urged to be more physically active, this makes no sense whatsoever. In fact it’s just downright cruel.”
Jane’s experience mirrors that of other communities whose public public courts have been sold off. First comes a gate with a security code pad. Consultation with local people is usually non-existent, at best minimal. Subsequent enquiries by the media and local people are met with a ‘this is a fantastic opportunity’ message peddled by the council and the regional arm of the LTA,or, in Cardiff’s case, Tennis Wales.
The standard line is the courts are being taken over because they are underused, in need of investment, and that such a move secures their future.
In the case of Victoria Park, nothing could be further from the truth. The same applies to the public courts in Hailey Park, Llandaff North, which are due to go the same way. In both cases the facilities are in good condition and hugely popular with players all year round.
Both were also resurfaced in 2020 by Cardiff Council. “How convenient,” adds Jane who, along with other residents, questions why public money (reportedly section 106 funding) appears to have been spent on council sports facilities on the verge of being privately contracted out.
As a Cardiff-based freelance sports writer and author, who has covered tennis around the world for over 20 years, I made some enquiries and discovered that Tennis Wales have signed a seven-year deal with Cardiff Council to take over the management of three sets of tennis courts in different parts of the city.
The plan is to roll this business model out across the whole of Wales over the coming months and years as Tennis Wales signs more deals with local councils.
Although Tennis Wales has been praised for some good work in the past, this decision seems to go against everything they are supposed to stand for as an organisation.
The model they are championing means that if you can afford to play tennis, then you can continue playing tennis. If you can’t afford to play tennis, then your involvement in the sport is at risk of stopping immediately.
Cardiff Council, the other local authorities in Wales that are set to follow suit and Tennis Wales, are now in danger of playing social engineering with the sport they’re supposed to be promoting.
Tennis Wales is the Welsh arm of the Lawn Tennis Association, which is among the wealthiest governing bodies in UK sport.
Tennis Wales might say that they only have so much money to play with in their budget, a familiar response when public assets are sold off. But is it right that a 12-year old child from a council estate in Cardiff, for example, should be denied access to sport because of supposed budgetary issues in Tennis’ governing bodies?
This also raises other issues and there are wider questions that the community and anti-austerity groups will now ask.
If Cardiff Council, and other councils across Wales, are prepared to, in effect, privatise their park tennis courts, then what comes next?
To take Victoria Park as an example, will people have to start paying to use the splash park area in future? Or will the park itself, and the swings and slides, come with an entry cost?
These may seem like extreme examples, but people who use leisure facilities across the country can already point to cases where things that were once free are being taken away. Are we approaching a point where people will say ‘Enough?’
