Rossendale Borough Council and the LTA agree partnership to breathe new life into local park tennis courts across the borough
Rossendale Borough Council and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) have announced a partnership to invest in and refurbish public park tennis courts in Rossendale. Two park tennis venues will be renovated, with investment of £103,000 helping ensure that quality facilities are available for the local community.
The project is part of a nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people. This investment will see thousands of existing park tennis courts in poor or unplayable condition brought back to life for the benefit of communities across the country through renovation works, and improved court accessibility with new gate-access technology and booking systems.
Park tennis courts are vital in providing opportunities for children and adults to get active, delivering significant physical and mental health and wellbeing benefits to participants. Accessible facilities in parks are particularly critical to opening up the sport to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and women and girls.
Alongside the investment, Rossendale Borough Council and Rossendale Leisure Trust 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, meaning that people will not need someone to play with or their own racket. Local Tennis Leagues will also provide friendly, sociable, opportunities to get active through local competition.
The park venues being renovated are: Stubbylee Park and Whitaker Park, whilst the single tennis court at Loveclough Park will also be available to book online via the LTA website, making it far easier to find and book a court or activity.
All courts and sessions at all sites will be available to book online via the LTA website – www.lta.org.uk/play/book-a-tennis-court/
Work on sites is underway and is anticipated to be completed for June 2023.
Cllr Adrian Lythgoe said: “This is such great news for Rossendale. It’s vital that we can provide good quality opportunities for sports and leisure activities for our residents and working with organisations like the LTA to improve facilities is exactly what we need.
“We can’t all be Andy Murray or Emma Raducanu but if they can inspire people to pick up a racket and have a go themselves, we want to be able to give them the chance to do so.”
Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer at the LTA, said: “We are delighted to be working with Rossendale Borough 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 will also be working closely with Rossendale Borough Council and Rossendale Leisure Trust to ensure that the local community have a range of accessible opportunities to get on court, and open up our sport to many more people.”