Match ready tennis facilities in Preston

Preston City Council and the LTA announces a partnership to invest in and refurbish public park tennis courts in Preston.

In total, three park tennis venues have been renovated - Moor Park, Ashton Park and Haslam Park - with over £243,000 of investment helping ensure that quality facilities are available for the local community. 

The project is part of a nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people. This investment will see thousands of existing park tennis courts in poor or unplayable condition brought back to life for the benefit of communities across the country through renovation works, and improved court accessibility with new gate-access technology and booking systems.

Park tennis courts are vital in providing opportunities for children and adults to get active, delivering significant physical and mental health and wellbeing benefits to participants. Accessible facilities in parks are particularly critical to opening up the sport to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds plus women and girls.

In addition to investment of £218,000 from the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, £25,000 is also being invested by Preston City Council.

Alongside this investment, Preston City Council and the operator of the tennis programme across the parks, We Do Tennis CIC, will also work with the LTA to deliver a range of activity across the park sites.

This will include weekly, organised, free park tennis sessions for all ages, abilities and experience where equipment is provided, meaning that people will not need someone to play with or their own racket. Local Tennis Leagues will also provide friendly, sociable, opportunities to get active through local competition. These friendly sessions are open to anyone in the area with an interest in playing tennis, whatever your age or ability.

Introducing a small fee to book a court will help to build up a fund to repair courts in future years, when they will inevitably need more maintenance. Preston City Council is working with the LTA to ensure that there will be weekly free tennis sessions on courts. This means nobody in the local community will be excluded from the chance to pick up a racket and start playing.

The park venues being renovated are Moor Park, Ashton Park and Haslam Park. Following the completion of the court renovations, the courts at the three sites are now available to book online via the LTA website making it far easier to find and book a court or activity. 

Councillor Jennifer Mein, Cabinet member for health and wellbeing at Preston City Council, said:

"The improvements to these tennis courts were just what was needed to enable access to quality outdoor sports facilities in Preston.

"Having liaised with a number of residents groups recently, the revised offer introducing concessions reduces the cost for those that are in employment but are on a low income, enabling play at the reduced rate at any time, alongside the times the courts are free to play on, seven days a week.

"Income generated guarantees a sustainable financial model for the operation of the tennis courts and ensures there is adequate income to the Council to provide for future maintenance of the facilities.

"There remains free access to sports facilities at the Council owned tennis courts at Moor Park multi-use games area near to the observatory, and at Frenchwood Recreation Ground. Access to these courts will remain free and accessible at all times."

Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer at the LTA, added:

"We are delighted to be working with Preston City Council to improve their park tennis facilities and provide more opportunities for anyone to pick up a racket and get active.

"This investment is part of the UK Government and LTA's Parks Tennis Project and will mean that courts will be available for people to use for years to come. We will also be working closely with Preston City Council to ensure that the local community have a range of accessible opportunities to get on court and open up our sport to many more people."

More information

For more information about the tennis courts and how to book see parks with a tennis court.

The tennis courts at Moor Park located in the multi-use games area near the observatory and those at Frenchwood Recreation Ground will remain free and accessible at all times to ensure there is access to freely available courts at council facilities.

The charging structure is as follows:

• Standard pay and play court fee of £4 per hour
• Free of charge bookings from 4pm - 5pm every day (including Saturday/Sunday) to encourage play for juniors/families in the time between school finishing and the traditional end of the working day and provide free provision during a peak weekend time
• Concessionary rate of 50% off pay and play rates if one or more of the following apply to participants:
  • claiming income support or Job Seekers Allowance
  • claiming housing benefit
  • claiming Council Tax support
  • claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
  • claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
  • claiming Working Tax Credit (WTC)
  • receiving Employment and Support allowance (previously Incapacity Benefit)
  • on a government training scheme, including apprenticeships
  • a student aged over 16 in full time education
  • asylum seeker
  • carer (adults and young carers)
  • looked after children (in the care of Lancashire County Council)
  • adults aged 60 and over
  • children 16 and under

Using the ClubSpark system it is possible to create a 'Concessions' membership that those in certain groups sign up to, free of charge. These players would then be automatically given a 50% discount whenever they book a court. This allows a targeted discount provision for those who really need it.

Annual pass provision that offers great value for players. Annual Passes that people can sign up to for court access (7 hours per week) throughout the year. These would be priced as follows:

• £60 for household (Up to 2 Adults, 4 Children) - (£1.15 per booking if playing once a week)
• £40 for individuals - (£0.77 per booking if playing once per week)
• LTA Free Park Tennis scheme. This is a volunteer led hour of free tennis on a Saturday or Sunday 10am-11am (similar concept to Parkrun) - which would give the local community access to the tennis courts, rackets, and equipment free of charge at a peak time every week. The volunteer training is free and online, and LTA Free Park Activators will also receive an LTA Free Park Tennis hoodie.
• Funding totalling £8,000 from UKSPF (until March 2025) will support the tennis court operator to provide additional free tennis provision within and for the community.
• LTA Youth Schools is a scheme where school teachers can complete CPD training online or in person, to help improve their confidence and ability delivering tennis in schools. Teachers that complete the training can claim a free £250 voucher for their school (one voucher per school), to use for tennis equipment or to bring in an LTA Youth trained coach to deliver 10 hours of coaching and mentoring.

Preston City Council actively applies and prioritises the principles of Community Wealth Building wherever applicable and appropriate. Community Wealth Building is an approach which aims to ensure the economic system builds wealth and prosperity for everyone.

About the LTA

The LTA is the National Governing Body of tennis for Great Britain and are there to govern and grow tennis, from grassroots participation through to the professional game.  The LTA's vision is "Tennis Opened Up" and they are on a mission to grow tennis by making it relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable.  They work with schools, with volunteers, with coaches and with venues across the whole country. They also represent the interests of over 1,000,000 Members, men and women, girls and boys, playing on more than 23,000 courts.  

About We Do Tennis

We Do Tennis Limited, is a Community Interest Company based in Hull, whose aim is to increase participation in tennis across the country and are already working with a number of authorities in Lancashire and the north west. The company has proposed an alternative operating and fee structure, endorsed by the LTA, that is already in operation at a large number of managed sites.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a central pillar of the UK government's Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills