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Tennis and golf club are closed amid park anger
Protests as controversial football pitches plan claims its first victim
A POPULAR tennis and golf school in Regent’s Park has closed.
The Royal Parks Agency terminated its contract with the 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 practise tennis and golf.
The Royal Parks Agency plans to bulldoze the four-acre Holford House site, axe 60 trees and build 10 five-a-side pitches, a fully licensed bar and a car park.
More than 1,200 members of the Friends of Regent’s Park have opposed the plans to be decided on by Westminster council in May.
Labour MP Frank Dobson said the closure had led to his biggest- ever postbag.
Malcolm Kafetz, chairman of the Friends of Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill, said Geoffrey Robertson QC, who regularly used the tennis courts, had put him in touch with high-profile planning lawyers and the Friends had earmarked £5,000 costs to fight the decision if approved.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the group, at Rudolf Steiner House in Park Road on 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.”
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, said: “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 that so we can plan further development.”
He told the 200-plus adult members of the association: “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.”
This was not the view of Westminster cabinet councillor Daniel Astaire who, in a letter to culture minister Tessa Jowell this week, wrote: “The DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) has overseen funding to the Royal Parks slip by 20 per cent in since 1993.
“The Royal Parks have a backlog on re–pairs and maintenance totalling £110million.
“It is clear from these figures that 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 is April 27.
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