Sydney's Woollahra Council to revisit tennis court management after objectors concerns at use by children

The Woollahra Municipal Council in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs is to reopen a tender for the management of its Cooper Park tennis courts after local objections to the recommended new operator offering to expand usage to include other sports.

Councillors this month rejected the advice of council staff to hand a seven-year lease to Sydney Sports Management Group, which operates a number of tennis centres and displayed “a better program of multi-court uses” and which would deliver a significantly larger return to the Council.

However, a local community group raised objections to aspects of the council tender that asked potential new leaseholders to offer opportunities to use the tennis courts for other sports.

Woollahra Council’s recently adopted recreation strategy encourages multi-use sports facilities. However, residents claimed the courts were already well-used and the community would not benefit from them being used for other purposes.

Objections to the change of management included the following statements:

“Rambunctious sports would not befit this space”.

“Activities would be noisy and would disrupt the tranquil country atmosphere of Cooper Park”.

Multi-use courts are “likely to attract children, who are characteristically enthusiastic and noisy” and turn the tennis courts into “a quasi-daycare centre during school holidays”.

Opponents also claimed playing on a court with multiple sets of lines for different sports would be “cumbersome and confusing”.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, opposition to the change of management appeared to be based on an anonymous flyer that claimed the tennis courts would potentially be ripped up in favour of other uses.

Sydney Sports Management Group recommended tender offered a 30% increase from the current rent with the company also committing $926,408 to upgrade the tennis courts and cafe.

Woollahra Council’s Finance, Community and Services Committee resolved at its 6th November meeting to recommend the council not accept the tender submitted, after initially recommending it be waved through in October.

It now recommends that the new tender exclude the possibility for “multipurpose sports at this location” and that staff “consider objective criteria to assess community involvement in the tender to engender a sense of community”.

Council documents revealed correspondence received requested the tender be “awarded to a local resident”.

Current tennis court operators Dieter Wilhelmi and Sarah Morante are managing the courts on a month-by-month basis.

Images: The Cooper Park tennis courts (top) and current tennis court operators Dieter Wilhelmi and Sarah Morante (below). Credit: Cooper Park Tennis Courts website.