In response to evidence provided by the community which shows that Hyde Park and Woodhouse, and Headingley wards are severely lacking in terms of tennis court provision, the School is claiming that this evidence should be adjusted to exclude the large student population living in the area. The community’s evidence took the form of charts using Lawn Tennis Association standards applied to local population data. In response the School has supplied charts which are identical in every respect to the community’s except that they exclude the area’s student population. The School is arguing that the area’s students should be using the University’s own tennis facilities.
But what and where are these facilities, and are they adequate for the university’s 33,000+ student population ?
Using the LTA standard, which reckons that 2% of the population plays tennis, the university should be providing either 16 un-floodlit courts or 11 floodlit courts for its 33,000+ students. But instead, the university provides just 6 tennis/five-a-side football courts at Weetwood. So there are just 6 courts, and student tennis players are having to compete for their use with five-a-side football players. That the university is not providing sufficient courts, or even accessible courts is demonstrated by the fact that the university men’s and women’s tennis teams advertise organised tennis and coaching on Woodhouse Moor and at Batley, outside Leeds.
The university’s failure to provide adequate tennis provision for its students is a tragedy not just for its students, but for local people who are having to compete with students for the use of the already inadequate public tennis courts on our local parks.