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Game, set and match as park tennis centre shuts
Campaigners braced for legal battle over five-a-side pitches plans
A POPULAR tennis and golf school in Regent’s Park has closed.
The Royal Parks Agency ended its contract with Regent’s Park Golf and Tennis School on Monday. Eight staff have lost their jobs and more than 200 members say they have nowhere to play tennis and golf.
The Royal Parks Agency plans to build 10 five-a-side pitches, a bar and car park on the four-acre Holford House site, axing 60 trees in the process. More than 1,200 members of the Friends of Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill oppose the plans, due to be considered by Westminster Council in May.
Labour MP Frank Dobson said the closure had brought his biggest-ever postbag.
Malcolm Kafetz, chairman of the Friends, said Geoffrey Robertson, QC, who regularly used the tennis courts, had put him in touch with high-profile planning lawyers.
The Friends have set aside £5,000 to fight the plans if they win council approval.
Speaking at the Friends’ annual meeting at Rudolf Steiner House in Park Road, Marylebone, yesterday (Wednesday), Mr Kafetz said: “This is a sad occasion. We are finding it hard to understand why this popular resource has been closed when the planning application has yet to be approved.” Another Friends member, Judy Hilman, said: “There could be a public inquiry into this on legal grounds, which could mean at least two years before the pitches can be built.”
Colin Buttery, director of the Royal Parks Agency, told the 200 Friends members: “The golf and tennis centre has been out of contract for a year. The contract could not be extended.
“We put the contract out for tender, but a bid from Goals Soccer Centres was successful and the one from the school was not. We had to secure the site so we can plan further development.”
He added: “If you don’t like it I am sorry, but you are not the sole voices in this process. There are many young people who are in favour of this. This is not about making lots of money for the Parks.”
Westminster Conservative councillor Daniel Astaire said this week that the Royal Parks had a £110 million repairs and maintenance backlog. He told Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell in a letter: “It is clear from these figures the funding the Parks receive will not allow them to clear this backlog of works without them having to seek funding from the commercial sector.”
The deadline for objections to the planning application is tomorrow (Friday). |
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