TENNIS club members are crying “fault” over a Brimbank City Council proposal to give free public access to courts.
Councillors agreed during a recent meeting to work with existing clubs on giving entry on a casual basis to the general public.
The move follows an article published in Star earlier this year revealing Brimbank was the only municipality in the West not to provide free games of tennis.
Council controls 61 tennis courts across 12 sites which are managed by community clubs.
Tennis clubs charge up to $140 for an annual membership, or up to $10 an hour to hire their courts.
And some club members told Star last week they could not afford to give outsiders free use of their facilities because they feared acts of vandalism.
Sheryl Willett, secretary of the Albion Tennis Club, said the club’s only income came from membership fees.
“Tennis courts don’t get any funding from council for any of the upkeep of the courts.
“If you have free access to the courts nobody’s going to pay for the membership,” Ms Willett said.
Geoff Guy, president and coach of the St Albans Tennis Club, said not many people would look after the courts if there wasn’t a membership obligation.
“The only way that the issue can be addressed is for the council to put some new facilities around for tennis and have open courts that people can go and use.
“But that would be up to council to manage,” Mr Guy said.
Council estimated it would need $60,000 to build one public access court, and $3000 a year to maintain it.
