A public tennis court in West Lothian is set to be upgraded after a regular player slipped on loose stones, tripped and broke a wrist earlier this year
With the annual Wimbledon tournament about to start there is expected to be a surge in public interest as people to look out racquets and have a go. And West Lothian Council insisted Bathgate’s Kirkton Park tennis courts would remain open while the Wimbledon tournament was on, with a contractor expected to be appointed to carry out the work in July.
The surface of the court had started to break up. And according to a report to the council’s Governance and Risk committee: “ it is deteriorating with age resulting in areas of the bonded surface breaking loose. This is causing small stones to gather on the court's surface.”
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These have led to at least one reported incident where a player suffered a broken wrist.
Chairing the G&R committee Tory group leader Damian Doran-Timson asked: “This issue of deterioration, is it likely to have occurred in other areas, and have we taken measures to make sure anyone using the courts doesn’t suffer a similar kind of injury.”
Greg Welsh Head of Education (Early Years, Primary and Resources) told the committee that community sports facilities were checked regularly for wear and tear.
He added: “Following the incident it was found some of the surface was starting to break away. We regularly monitor the surfaces of community sports facilities and we have undertaken a review of similar surfaces at all sporting facilities. We have found that none returned any remedial works required.”
He added: “We have those quotes for repair returned now and works are progressing to update the surface of the courts at Kirkton Park. We have undertaken an assessment of similar surfaces within community sport venues as well.”
Kirkton Park Community Tennis Courts on Edinburgh Road in Bathgate are public pay and play courts managed by West Lothian Council, with no membership required. Charges are £5.70 per court per hour.
A spokesperson for the council said the tennis courts were still operational and added: “We are currently going through the procurement process for work to repaint the court surface at the tennis courts at Kirkton Park in Bathgate.
“This should be completed by the end of June, and we hope to have a contractor appointed soon after to complete the work.”
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