Bedford's park tennis courts to get revamp thanks to £370k cash injection

The council has secured £370,000 of funding to refurbish park tennis courts across the town.

The investment is part of a £30 million nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), to refurbish thousands of public tennis courts in Great Britain.

Not only will the courts be resurfaced and repainted with new nets added, there’ll also be new gate-access technology and an online booking system which will be introduced later in the spring.

Refurbishment works at four Mowsbury Park courts began late last year – and work at the courts at Allen Park are scheduled to begin today (Monday). Southfields, Kempston courts, as well as those at Bedford Park, Linden Road, Addison Howard Park and Russell Park in Bedford also have refurbishments and / or improvements planned.

Significant works will be taking place at Bedford Park, where the courts are being entirely reconfigured from a nine-court to a three-court site. According to Bedford Borough Council, this is necessary to protect the surrounding mature trees and ensure the courts are not damaged by tree roots in the future. The tennis courts in Russell Park will also be reconfigured.

The repainting of the playing surfaces and marking permanent lines will take place in the spring. In the meantime, temporary playing lines will be marked at the Mowsbury Park and Bedford Park courts.

The council is currently working to appoint an operator to manage the courts and run a variety of programmes to encourage more people to play tennis.