Plans for €20k upgrade to tennis courts to proceed

SOUTH Dublin County Council has confirmed that it still intends to carry out upgrade works on the tennis courts in Kingswood Heights.

As has been confirmed by the local authority on several occasions, €20,000 has been provided for the upgrade works, which have yet to commence.

The tennis courts have been a point of contention in Kingswood for several years, for a number of reasons.

In 2019, over 300 Kingswood residents signed petitions calling on the council to shelve their plans to upgrade the tennis courts and to instead develop a sports hub on the site of the tennis courts.

The upgrade to the tennis courts at Kingswood Heights had been included in the Public Realm Improvement Works Programme in 2019.

However, the upgrade was put on hold due to pending discussions with the Kingswood Heights Residents’ Association.

After the council met with the residents in January 2020, an agreement was reached that a joint visit would be arranged to inspect tennis courts that were similar to the ones in Kingswood and that had been upgraded.

However, the joint visit never happened due to Covid-19 restrictions.

In May 2020, a motion was passed by councillors calling on the council to support the campaign and to have the local tennis courts transformed into a sports facility.

Last year, a motion was again passed for the development of a sports hub in Kingswood, and the council stated that it intended to honour its commitment to upgrade the tennis courts in 2021.

At a Tallaght Area Committee meeting last week, Fianna Fáil councillor Charlie O’Connor asked for an update on the plans for the tennis courts.

In response, the council stated: “As reported, a sum of €20,000 has been provided for the upgrade of the tennis courts in Kingswood Heights.”

“It is still the intention of the council’s Public Realm Section to utilise this provision and carry out the intended upgrade works.

“There are no plans at this time for any other works to the area in question.”

The Echo asked a South Dublin County Council spokesperson when the upgrade works are expected to be carried out.

In response, the spokesperson stated: “The council previously gave a commitment to upgrade the tennis courts at Kingswood Heights and provided a sum of €20,000 for these works.

“The work was planned to take place in 2020 however this was disrupted by the arrival of the Covid pandemic which resulted in the works not taking place that year or the following year.

“It is still the intention that these works will proceed. However, it is likely that the commencement date will be in early 2023.”