New indoor tennis centre planned for York – and it’ll be open to all

A new indoor tennis centre could be built in York – with the courts open for everyone to use with no need for membership.

York St John University has submitted plans for a tennis hall at its sports park on Haxby Road with the aim of encouraging more people to enjoy the game and “enabling local people to achieve their aspirations in tennis”.

There would be three indoor courts where students, school groups and members of the public can play without having to sign up for a membership plan.

The university’s chief operating officer Rob Hickey said:

• York St John University is delighted to be joining forces with the Lawn Tennis Association to develop proposals for a new indoor tennis facility at our Haxby Road sports park.

  This new tennis centre will become the only indoor pay and play facility of its kind in the city and reinforces our ongoing commitment to our students and to the wider community in York.
  

Clubs and tournaments

The centre will host competitions and coaching sessions as well as summer clubs and junior tournaments.

And it will offer training and contests for players with disabilities in partnership with York Disability Tennis Network.

There are already five outdoor tennis courts at the venue, four of which are floodlit. Under the plans two of these courts would close to make way for the new centre.

Planning documents say the sports park has already been “highly successful”.

In 2018 the facility had 90 tennis members and 7,896 tennis sessions were booked – the majority of them for junior players.

If the scheme gets the go-ahead, building work would begin on site in the autumn and the new facility should be completed by March 2020.