Anyone For Tennis?

---

Barn Elms will be the place due to plans to invest £150,000 on courts

Councillors are expected to serve up an ace on behalf of tennis fans by backing a £150,000 investment in upgrading facilities at the borough’s flagship sports complex at Barn Elms.

The meeting on 15th November of the environment, culture and community safety committee is set to give its seal of approval to plans to modernise and refurbish seven tennis courts at the 52 acre riverside sports venue.

The £150,000 cost of refurbishing the tennis courts and bringing them up to Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) standards includes a £30,000 contribution from the London Marathon Charitable Trust.

Barn Elms offers a diverse range of sports and leisure activities for local people and schools. As well as tennis it has grass pitches for rugby, football, cricket, aussie rules and rounders as well as specialist facilities for archery, athletics and field events plus a gym and boathouse for rowing.

It also has artificial surfaces offering football and hockey, while beach volleyball is the latest attraction after the council secured 1,000 tonnes of sand from last summer’s Olympic venue at Horseguards Parade and built four brand new volleyball courts with funding from Sport England.

Environment spokesman Cllr Jonathan Cook said:
“This is great news for Barn Elms and demonstrates our commitment to providing really first class sports and leisure facilities for our residents. Tennis is one of Britain’s fastest growing sports, especially after Andy Murray’s successes at the Olympics and the US Open, so I’m delighted that we are able to fully modernise and refurbish these tennis courts, and bring them up the very high standards set by the LTA.”

For more information about the range of sports activities available at Barn Elms and to find out how to make a booking visit www.wandsworth.gov.uk/barnelms

November 16, 2012