Padel Court Update

Thank you to those who answered the recent request to participate in a survey about Padel. I thought you may like to see the results. 79 took the survey so I think it succeeded in getting a fair representation of the views of members. I have added the survey results to the Club Website here.

The survey showed broad support for the Padel court in principle. About half agree with the plan, another 20% agree "if it is affordable". 10% do not support the plan. More broadly the survey showed that we could do with more members in the 18-40 category. Padel should help with that.

In summary, affordability is key to the plan and that is why it was important to submit the application to the EHDC CIL fund on 15th March for £75k. This fund is by far our best chance to get significant external grant funding to help with the court cost. The final decision on this application is promised for July.

Even with this funding we will need additional funding of ~£30k which we hopefully can obtain from other grants, but if not, it would need to be an interest free loan from the LTA. We need member backing to take on any loan, so members will have another chance to put their view in the July timeframe.

So the Padel plan is by no means certain. There is much to do still and for those that are enthusiastic, now is the time to pitch in and help if you want a Padel court. We still need help with finding and submitting grant applications to funding bodies and practical experience in building or project management would be most welcome. If you can help please get in touch with me.

Tony