Consultation closed 12.5.23
CONSULTATION CLOSED 12.5.23
Have Your Say! Public Tennis Courts at the Mundy Playing Fields Proposed Changes
Thornbury Town Council is proposing some changes to the public tennis courts at the Mundy Playing Fields and are very interested in hearing the views of local residents on these proposals.
The survey will close on Friday 12 May 2023.
BACKGROUND:
Thornbury Town Council is very keen to get more people playing tennis on the two public courts at the Mundy Playing Fields and has been working with the Lawn Tennis Association on how to achieve this. There is a significant amount of evidence showing that people are put off playing tennis if they aren’t able to book a court to guarantee that they will be able to play when they want. We have had lots of people make this comment to us over the past few years, where people have turned up to play and been frustrated to find the courts already in use.
One of the best ways to solve this, which is now common place across many public tennis facilities, is to install a simple “pay-and-play” system where you book a court online, pay a fee online, turn up at booked time and then enter a code into the gate panel which will unlock the court.
The Town Council has also been made aware that the courts could be better maintained and is keen to improve planning for future maintenance requirements to ensure quality provision. Installation of a pay-and-play system would also mean that the cost of the upkeep of the courts would be partly covered by the booking fee paid by those who actually use the courts, rather than these facilities being subsidised by all taxpayers in Thornbury, whether or not they use the courts. Currently all taxpayers pay for the upkeep of the courts through the precept charged through the council tax.
We have also found that keeping the courts unlocked has led to some antisocial behaviour and damage to the courts. Keeping them locked as part of this scheme would help to address that issue and ensure the courts remain in a good condition for those who want to play tennis.
If we install a scheme like this, we hope that by keeping the booking fee reasonable and looking into schemes to make booking more affordable for those on a lower income, we will ensure that good quality, well maintained, available and affordable courts are available for Thornbury residents.
The project to install a pay-and-play system would also include the provision of a tarmac pathway from the Mundy Playing Fields car park to the courts to allow better access.
Very importantly, Thornbury Town Council would not make any profit from this change. The money we make will go back into keeping the courts in excellent condition. Any excess that might be made would be used to keep the normal booking fee as low as possible and expand schemes to help those on a lower income who want to use the courts.
We are very interested in the views of local people on these plans and would be grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete the survey below. We are particularly interested in the views of people who currently play tennis anywhere, play tennis locally, would like to play tennis more or have thought about playing tennis locally but never have.
