Peterborough Lions Rugby Club to get new stand and improved facilities

Bretton Parish Council objected because the plans would mean the loss of tennis courts to car parking and had asked that at least one tennis court be retained at the site.

But members of Peterborough City Council’s Planning & Environmental Protection Committee approved the application at their meeting on Tuesday when the applicant, Andrew Moore, gave an undertaking that he would construct two new multi-purpose, all-weather courts for tennis, netball and 5-a-side football at the site.

Mr Moore added: “The tennis courts in question are in very poor condition being marked-out areas on concrete at the moment and as a consequence they’re hardly ever used.

“These new courts will be much better, all-weather and multi-purpose. We consulted with Sport England who concluded that the existing tennis facilities were barely ever used.

“Because we are significantly upgrading everything at the rugby club, building a new stand, increasing the refreshments facilities and adding brand new disabled W/Cs, they have no objections to what we propose.”

Cllr Stuart Martin, objected and spoke on behalf of the parish council. He told the meeting: “I disagree most strongly with the assertion that the tennis courts are not used, because they are; and the reason the parish council are so keen to keep at least one of them is because there are no others in the area.”

Cllr Nigel Simons added: “Actually there are tennis courts available for hire at the hospital but, that aside, the parish council wanted to retain one tennis court – we’ve heard from Mr Moore that he will now provide them with at least two.

“I would suggest that is a significant improvement on their position, and I hope that once constructed they use them far more.”

The application was approved.

Robert Alexander, Local Democracy Reporting Service