NEW indoor tennis courts will be built in Prestatyn and Bangor as part of ambitious plans to develop hundreds of new sites in communities across Great Britain over the next 10 years.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) have revealed the plans. As part of the proposed investment, the governing body for tennis in Britain has identified 96 priority target areas in England, Scotland and Wales for the development of new indoor courts.
A total of 72 areas have been earmarked in England, 12 in Scotland and 12 in Wales.
The target locations have been prioritised according to the number of potential players in each area, with demographic profiles of the population for each target community used to ensure new facilities are developed in a way that also helps to broaden the participation base of the game.
Scott Lloyd, LTA chief executive, said: “More indoor facilities across England, Scotland and Wales are absolutely crucial to our ambition to open up tennis to many more people.
"When I joined the LTA last year I was determined to make facility investment a priority and use my experience in this area to implement this more targeted approach.
"We are already making progress with several new indoor tennis centres currently going through the planning process in Scotland, and I am looking forward to us working with local authorities and partners in all of our target locations across the whole of Britain”.
The plans were spoken about by the LTA at an event in New Palace Yard at the Houses of Parliament, hosted by the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright said: "Tennis is one of our most popular sports, and it should be open and accessible to all. More quality indoor facilities will only help encourage people to pick up a racket and enjoy the sport all year round.
"I am pleased that the LTA is directing funding across the whole country to where it is needed most to grow the sport from the grassroots up."
The new facilities being developed will add to the current total of more than 1,400 indoor courts at over 300 venues across the country, including the existing network of community indoor tennis centres (CITCs) supported by the LTA, commercial clubs and tennis club venues.
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