The Friends of Cottenham Park
Invite you to join us for
Christmas Carols
in the Pavilion
Friday 19th December 2014
at 7.00pm
Mulled Wine, Soft Drinks
& Mince Pies
All welcome!
Welcome from the Friends of Cottenham Park. FCP is a residents' group that is dedicated to the improvement and protection of this much-loved park and its facilities, for the benefit of the local community.
Thursday 16 October 2014
Thursday 9 October 2014
Proposed Changes to the Public Tennis Courts in Cottenham Park
Merton Council will shortly issue a tender for a Concession Contract for the day to day
management and development of tennis at Cottenham Park
The Friends of Cottenham Park have sought
reassurance from the Council on a number of aspects of the proposal but there
will be significant and fundamental changes to the way in which the courts
operate and a substantial reduction in the number of courts available for the
public to play tennis.
The number of courts available to the
public will be reduced from 6 to 2
courts at all times and the concession operator will collect charges on the
courts used by the public at the same rate as charged by the Council for use of
other council owned courts within the borough. If the Concession Operator is
not using all the courts they may
release them for charged public use. The Concession Operator will provide up to
two courts during June and July on Monday and Tuesday between 4.30 pm and 7.30
pm for use by the Council’s Leisure Development Team on request.
The council has now confirmed that the
courts will only be used in the same hours that the park is open and that there
will be no use of floodlighting during the course of the contract, which will
be for a 5 year period with a 2 year each way break clause. This represents
progress from the original draft tender which gave the Council flexibility on
both of these counts.
The Concession Operator may operate a
membership scheme for the site in addition to any coaching and competition
programmes that it may wish to run. The Concession Operator will only be
allowed to use coaches qualified in accordance with the National Coach Development
programme, who are licensed by the LTA and have provided an up-to-date Criminal
Records Bureau check.
Merton Council seek to encourage the use of
the tennis provision, to gain some income and to develop the site into a Lawn
Tennis Association recognised Beacon Tennis Centre. There is no requirement for
maintenance of the courts in the tender.
All of the above would represent a major change in the way in which the courts are used at a time when there is a large active tennis club close by, and the Friends of Cottenham Park are therefore seeking your views on the proposed change to be in a position to provide a coordinated response to Merton Council before the proposal goes out to tender.
Please email very promptly your views to friendsofcottenhampark@gmail.com so that we may be sure that your opinions are clearly represented to Merton Council.
Whilst we aim to correlate a response to the Council, we may not be able to respond to contributors on an individual basis but we will keep you informed via email and here on the blogspot.
We thank you for your interest.
Mike Hammond
Chairman, Friends of Cottenham Park
All of the above would represent a major change in the way in which the courts are used at a time when there is a large active tennis club close by, and the Friends of Cottenham Park are therefore seeking your views on the proposed change to be in a position to provide a coordinated response to Merton Council before the proposal goes out to tender.
Please email very promptly your views to friendsofcottenhampark@gmail.com so that we may be sure that your opinions are clearly represented to Merton Council.
Whilst we aim to correlate a response to the Council, we may not be able to respond to contributors on an individual basis but we will keep you informed via email and here on the blogspot.
We thank you for your interest.
Mike Hammond
Chairman, Friends of Cottenham Park
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)