As Wimbledon gets underway, Theresa Villiers MP has welcomed the news of improvements to tennis courts in Tudor Park and Friary Park in her constituency, thanks to investment from the Conservative Government, ensuring more people across have access to high-quality grassroots sports facilities.
1,000 public tennis courts across England, Scotland and Wales have now been refurbished in the first phase of the Government and Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) programme, backed by £30 million programme of investment. This package, which has seen £21.6 million committed by the Government and £8.4 million by the Lawn Tennis Association, is the most significant investment in grassroots tennis for many years.
In its lifetime, it will deliver improvements to over 3,000 park tennis courts across England, Scotland and Wales between 2022-2024, with the target of attracting 500,000 more players every year.
Every court being refurbished will also benefit from access to the LTA online booking system and digital access gates, to make getting on to court easier.
The LTA recently announced a rise of 43 per cent in adults playing during 2022 to a total of 4.7 million, and a significant increase in children playing annually to 3.6 million. There has also been growth in women’s participation, up 34 per cent, and participation among 16-34 year olds up by 48 per cent.
Commenting, Theresa said “I welcome this funding for improving grassroots facilities in Barnet. Making it easier for people to lead more active lives is crucial for making us all healthier. I am really pleased that this project will help do that in my constituency.”
Commenting, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: “We are committed to levelling up access to sport which is so important for the nation’s physical and mental health.
“We have now delivered 1,000 resurfaced tennis courts across the country so anyone inspired by Wimbledon next week should pick up a racket and give it a go.
“We will continue to deliver 3,000 resurfaced tennis courts so that more people across the country have the opportunity to play tennis and I can already see from this local court in Eastbourne the positive impact it is going to have for many years to come.”
Courts at Friary Park have been refurbished and users also now have access to online Booking. At Tudor Sports Ground, access gates have been improved and online booking is also available.
