WIREDGOV

The government's announcement sees £30 million invested to refurbish tennis courts and the same amount a year to help open school sport facilities in England and improve primary school PE.

Our chief executive Tim Hollingsworth has welcomed the government's announcement of a £30 million package to refurbish 4,500 public tennis courts in deprived parts of the UK.

Of the £30.4m total, which we'll help to deliver, £22m is being committed by the government, with £8.4m being provided by the Lawn Tennis Association.

The announcement also included a commitment of nearly £30m a year towards improving and opening up school sport facilities in England, as well as improving the teaching of primary school PE.

Tim yesterday said:

“We're proud to be working alongside government and the Lawn Tennis Association to deliver an extra £30m of funding to refurbish more than 4,500 public tennis courts.

“Our research into activity levels during Covid-19 has demonstrated just how much people rely on the facilities in their local area to get active, and that's why we have committed over £270million to support the sport and physical activity sector to recover from the pandemic.

“It's also vital that we use this opportunity to tackle existing inequalities by supporting the communities that need it most.

“Therefore, we will be working to ensure that tennis courts in the most deprived areas are prioritised for refurbishment.

“In addition, we are delighted that nearly £30 million extra a year will go towards improving and opening up school sport facilities in England and improving PE in primary school.

“Helping children and young people to be active, following the huge disruption to their activity habits, is one of the priorities in our strategy Uniting the Movement.

“This new funding builds on the £10.1m that we and our partners Active Partnerships have invested to help schools keep sports facilities open during term time and the holidays.

“Last week we also launched Studio You, a free platform to inspire teenage girls to be more active at school that's powered by our award-winning campaign This Girl Can.

“And we will continue to work closely with government on the School Sport and Activity Action plan as it's updated.”