Proposed Changes to Tennis Courts at Vivary Park and Taunton Green

Overview

The Government’s Department for Digital, Community Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) have announced a £30 million package to refurbish more than 4,500 public tennis courts in the UK.

Taunton has outdoor public tennis courts at Vivary Park, TA1 3QE and Taunton Green, Cheddon Road, TA2 7QP. These courts are considered to be in average to poor condition by the LTA. There is no booking system in place to allow players to book a court and court hire fees are not being collected.

To develop and retain tennis courts in parks and green spaces, DCMS and the LTA have offered Somerset West and Taunton Council more than £100,000 of funding to refurbish the courts at Vivary Park and two of the courts at Taunton Green. Somerset West and Taunton Council would contribute approximately £20,000. The grant would allow the courts to be brought up to a high standard through resurfacing works and upgrades to the fencing where needed.

As a condition of the grant the Council is required to implement a booking system, this would allow the courts to be booked in advance as well as enabling the Council to collect court hire fees. Income from the court bookings would be reinvested into on-going maintenance and repairs and future court refurbishments. Should the refurbishment go ahead, the proposed court charges are:

• Pay & Play at £6 per court per hour 
• Annual Household Membership at £36 a year providing free booking access for the whole family

The Council is considering offering discounted fees for certain groups, for example individuals in receipt of Universal Credit. 

Somerset West and Taunton Council is committed to protecting your privacy in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018. You can view our privacy policy to see how we will use and manage this data. We will hold any personal information for no longer than five years.

Why your views matter

The Council seeks your views on whether to accept the grant to refurbish the tennis courts at Vivary Park and Taunton Green and introduce court hire fees. This survey is aimed at members of the public and stakeholder groups who are users and non-users.

There are 14 questions in total.  

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey which should take no more than 15 minutes for you to complete.  

What happens next

The results of this survey will inform the decision making process on whether or not to accept the grant to refurbish the tennis courts at Vivary Park and Taunton Green, Cheddon Road, and introduce a court hire booking system.