Change to tennis courts
We asked for suggestions regarding what residents would like to see happening in the recreation ground with the allocation of S106 monies from the Berkeley Homes site.
One of the suggestions was that the council revisit the current 2 grass tennis courts in the recreation ground. The suggestion was that these 2 courts are converted to hard courts.
The motivation behind the change, is that we will get a lot more use out of the court all year round. Currently, only one of the courts is available at any one time, as the other is ‘rested’ on a rotation basis. The courts are also only useable when the weather is good. Once winter sets in and it starts raining, the ground becomes waterlogged and the courts cannot be used. We have also noticed tennis players waiting for a court to come free.
If the courts were converted to hard surface / asphalt courts, they could be used all year round, regardless of the amount of rain that we have. We would also have two courts available all the time and would not have to ‘rest’ one.
I have spoken to Peter Every, Head of Parks, at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and he is supportive of the idea. I would like feedback from members regarding the idea. We would lose 2 grass courts (only one useable at a time) and gain 2 all year round courts.
Please feel free to comment below or email us directly.
My husband and son regularly go to use the courts and my husband also plays with some other residents on Sundays especially.
Although grass courts are lovely I agree that they can only be used certain times of the year and there are often people waiting to get on the other courts at other times.
Could the courts be converted into all weather courts and maybe one of the many spaces allocated for a football pitch become a grass court? Just an idea
As someone who plays on the courts year round I frequently find that during peak times (weekends, evenings and bank holidays) the hard court is in use and people waiting for it to become free. I also see other people turn up to play and finding that people are waiting they then leave disappointed. This is occasionally the case at other, non-peak times.
I love the grass courts and think the grounds staff do a fantastic job to maintain them, even taking account of the kids that from time to time play football and cricket on them. Unfortunately the season during which the grass courts can be used is very short and often out of action when there is rain. I suspect at least 90% of the time the grass court area is not in use.
So, on behalf of the people who just want to turn up an play tennis at any time of the year I would support either the creation of additional all-weather courts or the conversion of the grass ones to an all-weather surface to maximise the use of the space.
It would be a great shame if the grass courts were lost, it is very rare to find them available to anyone these days and are so nice to play on. The hard court is not actually used much in the winter so little would be gained by creating another one in any case. The grass court is a great asset to hawkenbury rec and should be cherished not ripped up.
For the last 3 years we have enjoyed the pleasure of playing tennis on free grass courts, which have been excellently maintained, it really would be sad to loose them
Personally, I would be very much in favour of converting the two grass tennis courts into hard, all weather courts. The cost would be quite reasonable as the courts are side by side. Apart from the all year round playing advantage, hard courts generally require far less maintenance.
With the resurgence of British tennis, this would be a very popular move.