By Tyler Wright
Amid fears the club will struggle to entice new members throughout the Summer season, the Emerald Tennis Club is calling for Cardinia Shire Council to act urgently on lighting upgrades at their courts at Worrell Reserve.
In the 2022/23 Capital Works Budget, the council allocated $312,000 towards upgrading the lights at the Emerald Tennis Club, with the State Government announcing that they will be contributing an additional almost $150,000 towards the tennis court upgrade works.
But after an initial assessment following a Tennis Victoria facility audit in late 2021, the club is still waiting for new lights to be installed after some were removed as part of this assessment, with five courts now unusable at night due to a lack of lighting.
Emerald Tennis Club’s night tennis convenor Michael Owens said being without the lights for at least 12 months makes it ” difficult for [the] club to survive”.
With around nine teams competing in the Knox City Night Tennis Association, and 36 players, a large amount of Emerald competitors have had to relocate to Monbulk Tennis Club or Selby Tennis Club to play their weekly matches.
For Owens, it’s not the loss of club revenue that is his main concern, but the inability to be able to promote the club coming into Summer.
“It’s not the money, It’s more the the issue that we can’t promote the club for anyone that wants to come and play…I’ve done a lot of ringing around and everyone’s been supportive and helped us out, but I just don’t think it needs to happen if council was more proactive,” he said.
According to a Cardinia Shire Council spokesperson, the council applied for funding through the State Government Local Living Fund in August 2022 to upgrade the lighting at the Emerald Tennis Club.
“This funding application was successful, which was then announced in October 2022,” the spokesperson said.
“A draft of the detailed design for the project is expected to be provided to both the Emerald Tennis Club and Worrell Reserve Community Asset Committee for consultation early in the new year, with the project put out to tender soon after.
“Council understands the impact that these works are having on the Hills community and on the tennis club, and is working hard to ensure that the project is completed in a timely manner.”
