Park tennis courts in Newcastle to be refurbished through Government and LTA ‘Parks Tennis Project’ funding

Urban Green Newcastle and Newcastle City Council have secured funding from the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation (delivered by the LTA) to refurbish public park tennis courts in Newcastle.

The Parks Tennis Project is part of a nationwide investment to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people. The Parks Tennis Project has already been successfully delivered in North Tyneside.

Armstrong Park
Elswick Park
Exhibition Park
Gosforth Central Park
Leazes Park
Nuns Moor Park
Paddy Freeman’s Park.

Works are planned to start at Exhibition Park and Leazes Park first, before moving on to Nunsmoor Park and Paddy Freeman’s Park, followed by the Elswick Park, Gosforth Central Park and Armstrong Park.

The works will be staggered so that some facilities will be completed and opened before others, to reduce disruption. Works are typically expected to take between six weeks and two months at each park.

Some of the refurbishment works (like the resurfacing) are very weather dependent. We are aiming to put out information on our website and across social media as soon as we have it. This may be on a park-by-park basis. (Please see table above)

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The tennis courts in Elswick Park, Gosforth Central Park and Paddy Freeman’s Park will benefit from a full resurfacing.

Elswick Park, Exhibition Park, Gosforth Central Park, Leazes Park, Nuns Moor Park and Paddy Freeman’s Park will be repainted.

Where existing nets and posts are in poor condition they will be replaced.

To improve court booking and reduce anti-social behaviour and vandalism, new gate-access technology and booking systems will also be introduced at all seven park tennis courts.

Over time, Free Park Tennis sessions will also be introduced at all parks. When established, they will take place weekly, on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and be delivered all year round (weather and staffing permitting).

Armstrong Park (adjacent to Heaton Park) was renovated in 2019, and an assessment by the LTA found the tennis courts did not require any further work as they meet the required standard. Gated access will be installed – along with the other sites – to improve availability. 

A small booking charge ranging from £1 – £2 per player (up to £4 per court) will be introduced at some of the refurbished courts to ensure the maintenance across all sites in the project going forward. 

We want to ensure that the new facilities are a long-lasting investment into the city’s parks that can be enjoyed by many for years to come. It is important that the new tennis courts are sustainable, and money can be set aside for repair and maintenance, ensuring they don’t fall into disrepair.  

Introducing a small fee to book a court at some parks will help to build up a fund to maintain courts in future years. This funding will be distributed to cover ALL the new court’s maintenance, not just the pay-to-play sites. 

It will also support the tennis development programme. We are working with the LTA to ensure there will be weekly free tennis sessions on courts. This means nobody in the local community will be excluded from the chance to pick up a racket and start playing and will hopefully encourage those who are new to the sport to give it a go! 

Free Park Tennis will give everyone the opportunity to use and enjoy the tennis courts. Designed for people eight years old and over (under eights can attend when accompanied by an adult), Free Park Tennis will eventually provide free sessions at all parks on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Weather and staffing permitting, they will take place all year round.

More information about Free Park Tennis will be announced later this year. Please sign up to our newsletter or follow us on social media – Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn – to receive all the latest updates.

A small booking fee of up to four pounds is being introduced to use the courts at Armstrong Park, Exhibition Park, Gosforth Central Park, Leazes Park, and Paddy Freeman’s Park.

The tennis courts at Nuns Moor Park and Elswick Park will remain free to use but sessions must be booked.

When all the improvement works across all seven parks are complete, members of the public will be able to book courts and sessions at all sites via the LTA website, making it far easier to find and book a court or activity.

Please sign up to the Urban Green Newcastle newsletter, or follow us on social media – Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn – for further updates.

After booking via the LTA website, players will receive a confirmation notice that will include a code that can be used to access the court.

A QR code on the gate to the court will also allow people to book a court on arrival, if available. Please note, all sessions start on the hour. For example, players looking to use a court from 15:00-16:00 must book the court prior to 15:00, otherwise the next available session will be 16:00-17:00.

Gated access has been piloted at park tennis sites successfully for a number of years, and the evidence from sites across the country is that installing gate access technology actually increases participation.  

This is because people can book a court online in advance and be confident it will be available when they arrive to play with friends and family, meaning it’s easier to get on court. It also means that free tennis sessions and coaching can be scheduled on the courts at specific times. 

Gated access also helps us to encourage courts being used for just tennis, which helps us to maintain the standard of the renovated, professional facilities for future use.  

We appreciate the importance of preserving space for children to play freely throughout the parks, and MUGA (multi-use-games-area)’s will still be available across the city to be used on a spontaneous basis. Some of these free-access courts can be found in Nuns Moor, Hodgkin, Exhibition, Walker and Paddy Freeman’s Parks. 

Finally, it also helps reduce anti-social behaviour and vandalism which has been a problem on some courts in the past. Sadly, we see anti-social behaviour across all areas of Newcastle’s parks which is very costly to repair. With The Park Tennis Project, we hope to reduce ASB in courts making them safer, more enjoyable spaces to pick up a racket & play. Reacting to ASB in the parks can be very expensive, so reducing it also provides us with more funding for projects like this in the future.  

Following the recent findings from Make Space for Girls ( https://www.makespaceforgirls.co.uk/ ) and their Parkwatch report, we also hope that securer courts will be a step in encouraging girls across Newcastle to feel more welcome to enjoy the cities green spaces in a safe environment. 

The decision as to which courts have been selected was down to the proposal from LTA. The grant is only available to dedicated Tennis courts. This excluded any areas that where a multi-sport facility. After reviewing the 7 sites that where selected, the decision to proceed with all 7 sites to ensure the maximum grant available was taken up. 

Our partnership with Newcastle City Council & The LTA on the #ParkTennisProject only covers funding for the refurbishment of tennis facilities across the city. Dedicated basketball courts or other MUGA (multi-use-games-area)’s will remain free to use and access as they are now. 

Finally, it also helps reduce anti-social behaviour and vandalism which has been a problem on some courts in the past.

Basketball courts are not part of the funding to resurface or repaint. At present Basketball courts will remain free to access as a walk up and play provision. 

During the construction phase at Gosforth Central Park the basketball court will be closed to the public for Health and Safety until the resurfacing works are completed. Urban Green Newcastle will communicate when this will be.  

The basketball courts at Leazes Park may require temporary closure while fence repairs to the perimeter and when repainting takes place. Urban Green Newcastle will communicate when this will take place

We want to encourage the new tennis courts being used for just tennis, as this helps us to maintain the standard of the renovated, professional facilities for future use.  

There are still MUGA (multi-use-games-area)’s, basketball courts, Table Tennis, Gym Equipment, Small sided football posts, Skateboard and scooter facilities (in Exhibition and Walker parks) and running/walking accessible across the city. 

We are also working with The LTA, our operator and external experts to find out ways we can open up the courts to wheelchair users and accessible variations of the sport, such as racket-ball. 

We would like to remind users that dogs are not permitted on the tennis courts.

Urban Green Newcastle will not make any profit out of this arrangement. 

Any income that comes in will allow us to create a sinking fund for future court maintenance, plus enable the operator to run coaching/tennis development/community outreach. 

The Parks Tennis Project is part of a nationwide investment to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain and open up the sport to many more people.  

Grant funding for this project has been made available by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation (delivered by the LTA) to refurbish public park tennis courts across the country.  

The LTA are grant providers (and as with any grant there are a series of conditions about future maintenance and provision of activity).  

Newcastle City Council have successfully secured this funding as a grant recipient and have worked closely with us to kick-start refurbishments in Newcastle. The project has therefore been through Cabinet and both parties have signed a grant agreement by which all responsibilities under the grant pass to Urban Green Newcastle. 

We are currently in final discussions with a chosen operator who will be responsible for running the courts. This will be funded by income generated by booking charges. We are also working alongside the operator to manage and engage in order to maximise the facilities. A plan for this will be announced prior to the launch of the courts.  

As we move forward with the project, we hope to work with the operator to best facilitate those who already regularly use the courts. As the courts begin to open and are up and running across the 7 sites, we will release more information as to how this might work and who to contact to arrange regular bookings. 

To keep up to date with news, please follow us on social media (@urbangreenncl) or sign-up to our mailing list: https://urbangreennewcastle.org/mailing-list/