By Spencer Vignes, Freelance Sports Writer. Image, Newly installed padlocks in Victoria Park, Cardiff, Spencer Vignes
Last week, voice.wales broke the story that Cardiff Council had signed a seven-year deal with Tennis Wales, the Welsh arm of UK tennis governing body the Lawn Tennis Association, in effect privatising council tennis courts in three different parts of the Welsh capital.
The deal, which local residents and interest groups were not consulted about, involves turning the courts into members clubs in everything but name, with players having to pay to use what had up until now been free council park facilities through a subscription process administered by the LTA.
The three sets of courts concerned – Heath Park, Victoria Park and Hailey Park – are popular all year round with tennis players of all ages and abilities, and benefited from significant investment by Cardiff Council only last year.
Other parts of Wales are set to follow suit over the coming months and years as Tennis Wales strikes more deals with local authorities to take over the running of council courts.
The past seven days has seen an outpouring of anger against the proposals. Cardiff Council has attempted to pour increasing amounts of cold water on the story amid interest from mainstream media outlets including ITV and with Welsh elections pending.
Although no official statement has been made, their line appears to be that no decision had been taken on what was only a proposal and that Tennis Wales released information which had not been agreed with members of the council.
Tennis Wales also appear to have backtracked from their initial announcement. In a statement released on 16th April, the body declared that “no decision has been taken on the proposed tennis scheme in Cardiff, and any decision going forwards will be subject to a decision by Cardiff Council’s cabinet and consultation with local residents.”
But any attempt to say that these plans were never finalised is thrown into doubt by Tennis Wales’ own previous statement. In an email sent on April 7th and seen by voice.wales, Tennis Wales clearly state that the new pay-to-play system is due to come into force from May 4th.
“Please see attached an announcement which will help clarify the situation on the future of the tennis courts at the [Victoria] park which confirm that Tennis Wales have been successful in obtaining a licence agreement from Cardiff Council to operate the courts,” the email states, pointing to an attached PDF document.
Under the heading “What we will do,” the attachment then says ‘Low cost playing opportunities’ will be offered and gives the price of £39 per year or £4.50 per one-hour session. Under the heading, “What happens next?” the letter states that a new code lock will be installed in early April and tennis will “remain free of charge until Tuesday 4th May.”
Unfortunately this is a familiar story, and Tennis Wales is very much following in the footsteps of its parent body, the LTA.
Over the past four years, the LTA has been involved in what appears to be an increasingly underhand race to privatise council tennis courts across Britain.
From Newcastle to Bristol, the story is nearly always the same. Consultation with local people is usually minimal or non-existent – the first they know about it is when security gates with code pads controlling entry to the courts are installed. Subsequent enquiries by locals and the media are usually met with a ‘this is a fantastic opportunity’ message peddled by the council involved together with the regional arm of the LTA, 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.
But players now question what role Cardiff Council had in the plans.
“Somebody at Cardiff Council knew exactly what was going on here,” says Paul Jones who has played recreational tennis on the courts at Victoria Park for the past nine years. “We had a security code pad gate installed with no prior warning at the beginning of April. Something like that costs thousands of pounds and involves contractors working on council property. That’s all got to be signed-off, probably by several different people. It’s not as if little green men suddenly appeared one night and put it there.”
Some players have given the news that “no decision has been taken” over privatisation a cautious welcome, but worry it could still happen. They have questioned whether or not the LTA would try to overrule Tennis Wales if the plans were rolled back.
But the last week has shown how much publicly owned, free-to-use tennis courts are valued, and the strength of reaction has forced the authorities on to the back foot.
The irony of the courts being taken over privately wasn’t lost on the Friends of Hailey Park, the voluntary group which strives to protect the interests of the park in Llandaff North.
Claude Hailey, the businessman and philanthropist who donated the land that became Hailey Park, was also a keen tennis player who represented Wales and would, to quote the group’s Twitter feed last week, ‘have wanted the park to be one of tennis for all’.
