At North Oxford Lawn Tennis Club, our committee are planning to replace 4 of our 10 grass courts with another surface.
Aerial View of the North Oxford grass courts
I am strongly opposed to a plan to reduce the number of grass courts to 6.
For me, playing on the grass in the summer is a unique and wonderful experience. I think there can be no doubt that removing four grass courts will greatly reduce the amount of grass court tennis which club members will be able to enjoy in the summer months. This is a strongly negative step for the club.
We currently have 10 grass courts. 2 courts are normally rested which means we have 8 courts available for play. With 6 courts, we would have 4 courts available for play on any given day, so we would be halving the time when members would be able to play on the grass.
I feel that losing half of our courts will make an enormous difference to the club in the summer. We’re very used to turning up at the club in the summer and being able to play on the grass. We simply wouldn’t be able to do that any more. A lot more of our summer tennis would simply have to take place on the hard courts.
I do not agree with the committee’s argument that “Our current situation of 9 hardcourts and 10 grass courts is not sustainable”. There is no proof of this. In my view, it absolutely is sustainable. If the council decide to put up their prices to the levels they say they should be, we will need to increase our membership fees or adjust our finances in other ways. One option of many is to increase our adult membership fees. They are remarkably low for the number and choice of courts we have.
The committee have provided no justification for their statement that “Our current situation of 9 hardcourts and 10 grass courts is not sustainable”. Please could we see evidence in the form of financial models to show that work has been done on the possible alternatives.
Grass is our “USP” (unique selling point). Surely we should be looking to preserve the single unique thing we have at North Oxford. No other club for in Oxfordshire and for miles around has as many good grass courts as we have. We’re not running a business, but if we were, there would be a compelling argument for building on the unique thing that we have.
Also I fear that if we reduce our number of grass courts from 10 to 6, we are going down a road which will in time lead to no grass courts at all. If we take this decision, the next thing will be that we discover that the cost per court has gone up and some people will argue that the grass courts are too expensive to maintain. In a number of years we will have no grass courts at all.
Also with fewer grass courts available, the existing courts will be under more pressure. It’s likely that the remaining courts will be rested less, and will end up deteriorating more quickly. The next step will be that people will start saying that the grass courts are no good and we should get rid of all of them.
I do not believe that replacing four grass courts with four all weather courts brings a sufficient benefit to justify the loss of the grass courts.
The committee have made a poor job of communicating with the club membership about their plans to change court surfaces. At the 2017 AGM 20 September 2017 we were formally told of plans to replace 2 grass courts and 2 hard courts with a new surface. Since then the plan has changed to one involving replacing 4 grass courts – a very different proposal. No clear communication has been made to the membership about this important change. We have been told a) in an email in January, but the news was unclear and did not mention how many grass courts would be lost b) at the Wimbledon draw on 27 April. Members who were at the Wimbledon draw were surprised to hear of the new plans, and many members who were not at the draw still don’t know about the plans. People are always very surprised when they hear!
The committee however seem to think that they have been doing a good job of informing the membership about their plans. The club chair is reported to have said recently that she’s only spoken to a couple of people who disagreed with the plans to lose the grass courts. I wonder why that is!
we will no longer be able to hold amazing events such as county week, the open mixed tournament, etc etc ….
Surely the LTA should be finding ways to support clubs like ours. There are so few clubs left with more than 6 grass courts.
Tim Ault