Tennis club ‘wanted’

Press, 19 December 1986, Page 5

Tennis club ‘wanted’

More than 80 per cent of residents near Fendalton Park support a proposal to resite Te Kura Tennis Club there, according to a club spokesman, Mr Derek Anderson.

Mr Anderson was replying to criticism of the proposal presented to the Waimairi District Council’s works, reserves and traffic investigation subcommittee yesterday.

He told the sub-commit-tee that a tennis club would provide more opportunity for family groups to play in the park than the existing rugby, bowls, or croquet clubs. Most of the opposition to the proposal at yesterday’s meeting centred on parking problems, particularly in Medbury Terrace. One resident said the danger and inconvenience of allowing parking for the tennis club in the terrace would mean that her family would have to move.

Parking would also intrude on residents’ privacy and worsen the drainage problem nearby, said another resident, Mrs Katrine Brown. Mr Frank Chisholm told the sub-committee that the proposal presented by the tennis club was incomplete and “wishywashy.”

He suggested that fences proposed by the club could provide cover

for child molesters and other sexual deviants. Several residents questioned the accuracy figures presented by Mr Anderson which showed that residents supported the proposed new club site. A representative of the Christchurch Rugby Football Club, Mr Trevor Thompson, also questioned figures provided by Mr Anderson. Mr Thomp-

son said the club had 685 members, including a playing membership of 312, not the 200 members stated by Mr Anderson. If the tennis club’s proposal went ahead, the rugby club would not have enough space for practices and matches and would have to leave the park, he said. The sub-committee is expected to complete its deliberations by March.