IT is too soon to say if charging will be introduced at a tennis courts that are set to undergo a £220,000 revamp.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is providing the cash to improve the courts at Cwmbran Park while additional funds are being provided by Sport Wales and Torfaen Borough Council which will see a further two courts refurbished and also made suitable for basketball and netball to also be played on them.
Some of the artifical courts at the park have become overgrown with weeds and left in a general poor condition.
The LTA is providing £94,316.03 through Tennis Wales with the governing body having had £21.9m from the UK Government and a further £8.4m from its own foundation to refurbish tennis courts in parks across the UK.
Where the fund has been used elsewhere in Wales it has seen payment for playing on courts introduced in some parks but has been described as a “low cost pay to play policy” while there are also free tennis initiatives in place.
Torfaen Borough Council has said it is too early to say if a pay to play policy will be introduced at Cwmbran where the courts are currently free to use.
A council spokeswoman said: “We currently do not charge to use the tennis courts, and a future operating model has not yet been finalised or approved.”
The work at the park will include tennis court surface works, replacing the existing fencing and replacing gates, posts and nets.
The additional £104,275 from Sport Wales will pay for revamping two further tennis courts but that funding has required they be redeveloped so they can also be used for basketball and netball.
The borough council is putting £22,473.23 towards the project which is from Section 106 money paid by developers as a contribution towards local facilities when schemes such as new housing is built.
It has had to approve the spending and the work will be undertaken by Blakedown Sport and Play which has been appointed as the single contractor across the UK.
