Egerton Park had eight courts, seven of which were used for tennis with one doubling up as a pickleball court.  The eighth court was used for informal football kickabouts.  Two of the courts were leased to Bexhill Tennis Club and the remainder were available for wider public use. 

Systems of booking and charging had been in place at various times in the past, this being most effective when an attendant was employed specifically to oversee the operation of the park games.  Since 2017, the courts had been available to use free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis, but this left customers with no guarantee of being able to play when they wished.  In addition, the cost to the Council of maintaining and managing the courts was not met. 

Members were asked to consider a more user-friendly system that would help facilitate greater use of the courts and at the same time generate a modest income to contribute to the upkeep of the courts, without creating undue barriers to levels of participation. 

Clubspark was a simple to use, mobile-friendly on-line system promoted by the Lawn Tennis Association which enabled advance bookings to be made with times, conditions and prices to suit the client’s needs.  The system had been trialled successfully over the previous summer for two of the tennis courts, which had been available to book free of charge.

It was proposed that from 1 April 2021, the booking system be extended to all of the other public courts for a trial period of six months and that a fee of £1.50 be payable per court, per half an hour of play for those people who chose to use the system.  The income generated would be used to cover the cost of the Clubspark system and offset routine maintenance costs, the value of which were approximately £360 and £9,500 per annum respectively.  The fee would be seasonal with the courts being free to use during the period November to March inclusive.  Those who chose not to take up the opportunity to book would continue to be able to use the courts for free at times when the courts were not booked.

It was estimated that the proposed fee of £1.50 would generate an income per annum of £13,088 based on the percentage uptake experienced during the 2020 trial period. Projected income had been calculated for the tennis courts only and based on the assumption that the majority of bookings would be for a duration of one hour.

RESOLVED:  That:

1)         the existing tennis court booking system at Egerton Park be extended to cover all of the public courts at this venue, including the football kickabout court; and

2)         for booked courts, a charge be introduced of £1.50 per half hour of play to support the on-going maintenance of the courts and potentially contribute to future renovations.