Plans to redevelop Hoylake tennis courts have been submitted to Wirral Council.
St Luke’s Methodist Church is applying for planning permission (documents) to build a mixed, 17 dwelling development of houses and apartments on the site of St Luke’s tennis club in Charles Road, Hoylake. The tennis courts (pictured) are located opposite the car park behind The Row, Market Street.
Club Secretary Anne Cross explained to the Liverpool Echo that the club does not own the land or pay rent to St Luke’s and club members cannot afford to purchase the site to keep it as a tennis club. The Methodist Church wants to use the proceeds of a land sale to support local projects including the FUSS free school uniforms scheme.
What do you think? An unwelcome development or a good way to fund local charitable projects?
An interesting one, if the proposed sale is not for profit but to help the local community surely facilities for childrens’ activities would be of more long lasting benefit. Not as tennis courts perhaps? Why don’t St Luke’s have a public meeting with interested parties to discuss possibilities, members of their youth group may have some ideas? The school uniform scheme should still be possible with public support.
Hi, I agree with Kate Smith a public meeting should be had about the proposed buildings. It seems a bit drastic to sell the land for a school uniform scheme, there must be other ways to help provide for these uniforms, ONCE SOLD AND BUILT ON, LOST FOREVER.
Helen.
I agree.
There should have been a public meeting. The tennis club grounds were set up originally by the trustees of St Luke’s as a War Memorial
Maureen Thomas
As a resident who lives very close to the Tennis Club I am extremely concerned about the loss of a local amenity, green space and a key part of the community. Parking in Charles Road is already extremely difficult both day and evening. The proposals only have 17 designated spaces so this will be even more congested.
I am intrigued to know how much the Church needs for school uniforms, it seems that this is not an open and transparent planning application.
I think that most people are aware of the need for affordable housing, so that our young people have some chance of owning a home. It appears that the church would spend it’s profits in local causes and I applaud that, even though how the church spends its money is entirely its own business. I understand that we would lose an amenity and a (very small) bit of green space, but there are other tennis clubs in Hoylake, and of course we have our fabulous parks and the beach. I don’t know the area well enough to comment on parking issues, but that’s what the planning process is for. I hope Alexis Moore will have his say.
I for one would much rather see the new housing that we very much need provided by this sort of ‘brown-field’ development than have property developers grubbing up our precious green belt land for profit.
I agree with Andrew Gebbie regarding the need for affordable housing for our young people. However, I do not agree that the term ‘brown site’ could be used to describe the tennis club site.
As Kate Smith and Helen Carr say, this amenity could be used more extensively within the community. It could raise revenue fro the Church whilst supporting local initiatives through recreational, outdoor and educational pursuits.
There was tree felling on the site last year particularly at the proposed entrance to the development which I can only presume was in preparation for the planning application. The planning application now says there are no significant trees or hedges which is inaccurate. Once the tennis court has been destroyed, more trees and hedges destroyed and the site built over there will be no going back and another recreation space with the potential for local community use will be lost forever.
The present use of this facility is an excellent onebut it can be improved. It provides an outlet for people to keep fit by regular exercise and have a good social life within our community it is a tennis club.( Remember one of the facilities we should be encouraging after the olympics.) We need much more of this in our area.Surely a better option would be for the church to liase with the tennis club to link up with the uniform people and share the facilities and work together to make more money for our local causes and for the church to work with the committee to encourage tennis and faith in the local community.To destroy the good that goes on at the tennis club currently to my mind is not christian. Solutions please . A meeting with locals is crucial.
I think this is actually a very good move. From doing some research into the projects the money would go towards, I then this is a better option!
As far as i see it, finances to provide food for families to feed their kids, and school uniforms for those in poverty who cant afford them versus allowing those with plenty of money to play tennis, surely this is a no brainier. Good on them, I would back the sale of the land. Surely the church should be looking after the poor, not supplicating the wealthy to play tennis. Good on them.
As to the comment about it not being transparent, I can’t see how this is the case from the research I have done, and regarding the comment about how much money is needed, a whole school uniform these days costs a lot of money, and there have been more people going to the project than could be catered for this summer from some of the social media I have seen.
There are at least two other tennis clubs in Hoylake, plus others in nearby areas, this sale is a good thing.
Losing any space for healthy outdoor sports is just not what our community needs. Instead we get houses crammed into any area which is already so inadequate for roadways and parking. It’s a sad loss. But wasn’t this ground originally donated to the church via a covenant – where is it – disappeared no doubt when a big cheque was waived. Sounds to me like a very unsavoury situation all round. A few will get grammar school uniforms and the church will invest the rest – people should at least come clean.
Regarding Maureen Thomas’s comment does she have any information about the war memorial and how it was set up?
Press release:
At the March meeting of their Church Trustees, the members of St. Luke’s Methodist Church Hoylake voted unanimously to work towards the sale of their land on Charles Road Hoylake, which is currently the site of their tennis club.
Having taken into consideration the benefits of having a tennis facility, alongside the church’s other projects and opportunities, the Trustees feels that having its own tennis club is no longer a priority for St. Luke’s, and that the income from a potential sale could be used in ways that would benefit the church and community far more effectively in the future.
If the sale of the ground is successful it will enable the church to start new community initiatives and to continue to invest in current projects such as the community lunches, work with local children and young people, the Saturday Club for young adults with learning difficulties, and the recently formed Wirral FUSS project (Free school Uniforms for Secondary Schools) which recycles school uniforms and redistributes them to families that struggle financially.
The proposed new development would include several properties which fall into the category of affordable housing.
Minster of St. Luke’s the Rev. Anthony Clowes remarks that, “at a time of increasing financial pressures it is no longer realistic to have one of our largest assets working for the benefit of so few individuals. In recent years, despite several attempts to encourage new members, our tennis club has declined in number whilst the age demographic has got older. Several years ago the club felt that it was no longer able to offer junior membership. However, we understand that the decision to sell the club grounds will be a disappointment to the current playing members, therefore the church have negotiated the means by which all playing members will be welcomed at one of the other local tennis clubs upon the sale of the land. Residents of Hoylake will be aware that there are several tennis facilities, both private and public, in the local area apart from the St. Luke’s club.â€
As their tennis club was formed in memory of the war dead, St. Luke’s have also decided to ensure that a suitable continuation of this memorial should be established in due course.
I think it is disgraceful that the church should want to sell the tennis club, when it was left as a war memorial, is the church putting money before decency to honour the men who fought to save our country. Sincerely Mary Hulmes