In the News: Local Park tennis courts in Basildon set for renovation

Basildon Council and the LTA have today announced a partnership to invest in and refurbish public park tennis courts in Lake Meadows Park and Mopsies Park. In total, four park tennis courts will be renovated, with the cash, helping to ensure that quality facilities are available for the local community.  

The project is part of a £30million 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 conditions 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. Over 2,500 courts have been completed so far as part of the project. 

Cllr Jack Ferguson, Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport, Children & Young People welcomed the funding announcement and said:  

"We are delighted with this injection of cash from the LTA which means four courts in two of our parks are being given a new lease of life. It also means there will be more opportunities for residents of all playing levels to get involved.

"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 disadvantaged backgrounds, women and girls."

"I am confident the revamped local parks tennis courts will feature in our Summer of Sports programme."

Alongside the investment, Basildon Council will also work with the LTA to deliver a range of activity across the park sites. This will include weekly organised Barclays Free Park Tennis sessions for all ages, playing levels 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.  

Scott Lloyd, LTA Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted to be working with Basildon Council to improve their park tennis facilities and provide more opportunities for people to pick up a racket and get active. 

"This investment from the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation will mean that courts will be available for people to use for years to come. We will also be working closely with the council to ensure that the local community has a range of accessible opportunities to get on court, ensuring that we open up our sport to so many people."

All courts and sessions at both sites will be available to book online via the LTA website: https://www.lta.org.uk/play making it far easier to find and book a court or activity. 

Work on sites is anticipated to start this May and be completed by July 2025. 

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Published 7 May 2025.