Crawley tennis courts to get major upgrades from Crawley Borough Council

The nine courts, four in West Green Park, three in Maidenbower Park and two in Southgate Park will be refurbished and upgraded over the next few months, before the tennis season gets into full swing.

Improvements include court surfaces, nets, posts, fencing and an online booking system linked to access-controlled gates to ensure all residents can guarantee their court booking slot.

A comprehensive weekly schedule of programmed activity will also be added which will include coaching and competition for all ages and abilities as well as weekly free opportunities too.

On January 9, work starts on the new fencing around Maidenbower Park’s tennis courts and is expected to take about a week.

The following week, fencing and resurfacing work starts at the courts in West Green Park. This is expected to take about four weeks.

On January 23, resurfacing work at Southgate Park starts and should take about three weeks to complete.

New access footpaths to the tennis courts at Southgate and West Green parks will be constructed in February and March.

Temporary play lines will be used where courts are being resurfaced. The courts in Maidenbower will be pressure cleaned. All nine courts will be colour sprayed in spring, when the weather improves.

Two of the three facilities will remain open for use at all times. All dates are subject to weather conditions.

As soon as the renovations are complete, the online court booking system will go live at: crawley.gov.uk/tennis. It’s easy to use and money generated from bookings will pay for court improvements in the future.

An annual season ticket covering all courts will cost Crawley residents £45 per annum per household or £7.50 per hour on a pay-per-play basis. An additional fee will be payable for the use of floodlights at West Green Park.

Councillor Chris Mullins said: “These improvements represent a major upgrade for tennis in Crawley and will give us courts and facilities that we can be proud of in the long-term.

“Charging for tennis will enable us to maintain the courts to a high standard but we will ensure that there will be some free access too.”

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For up-to-date information, visit: crawley.gov.uk/tennis