Plans to convert London’s Olympic Park tennis courts into padel courts have been temporarily “paused” after a huge outcry.
Almost 2,000 people have signed a petition opposing the conversion of all four indoor tennis courts into nine padel courts.
Work to make the changes – proposed without consultation by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority – was meant to start next month.
But the £500,000 scheme has been put on hold until the authority’s board meets on July 31, at which opponents and the Lawn Tennis Association have been invited to speak.
Scott Lloyd, the LTA’s chief executive, has described the plans as a “betrayal of the London 2012 legacy and the athletes who competed at the Games”.
James Labous, who organised the online petition, said he was delighted with the public response but there was “still a lot of work to do” to save the tennis courts.
He told The Standard: “This has been an amazing experience. It’s proven that when a group of people feel passionately about something, we can hold people to account.
“I think we are all feeling quite positive – but feeling we need to ensure we get this over the line. If it ends up with a hybrid solution of just two tennis courts remaining, that wouldn’t be a great feeling.”
A spokesman for the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority confirmed to The Standard on Tuesday that “nothing will go ahead” until its board had a chance to review the proposals at the end of the month.
Sem Moema, the London Assembly member for North East London, said: "It's welcome news that these plans have been paused. I hope this leads to meaningful engagement with the thousands of people that regularly use these facilities.
“These are some of the few tennis courts accessible for disabled Londoners and there is a fantastic community of users that’s grown up post-Olympics who relies on them too.
“To rip them out in order to make more money from another sport would be a betrayal of London's Olympic legacy. I hope the executive committee see sense and scrap the plans completely."
The £40m Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre opened on the northern end of the Olympic park in 2014 as a key legacy development from the Games.
Hockey and wheelchair tennis had been played on the site in 2012, though Wimbledon was used for the Olympic tennis tournament.
The site includes two outdoor hockey pitches and six outdoor tennis courts. The centre has become established as a hub for more than 20 local and university-affiliated hockey and tennis clubs.
Under the plans accepted by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority’s executive in June, it and centre operator GLL/Better want to “capitalise” on the growing number of people playing padel - a sport with similar attributes to tennis and squash - and “drive income and user engagement”.
The authority admits the “loss of the indoor courts will inhibit further growth of tennis” but hopes tennis players will switch to the outdoor courts or to padel.
Mr Lloyd, in a letter to Ms Moema, said: “The LTA strongly opposes these plans, and we are incredibly disappointed with the manner in which proposals have been brought forward, with no proper consultation or communication with the LTA.
“Alongside the Tennis Foundation, the LTA invested half a million pounds into the Lee Valley Tennis and Hockey Centre when it was developed as part of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Legacy.
“The decision to convert the tennis courts at this facility to padel courts, when clear alternatives are available that would allow tennis and padel to thrive side by side on the site, is a betrayal of the London 2012 legacy and the athletes who competed at the Games.
“The closure of the tennis centre will remove the opportunity for year-round tennis for the local community, as there are no community accessible indoor tennis facilities in the neighbouring boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham.
“There is a nationwide lack of indoor and covered tennis facilities, and we currently lag significantly behind our European counterparts in terms of covered tennis provision per capita of population.
“We have been seeking to work with partners nationwide and across London to fund more community accessible covered tennis (and padel) facilities, but protecting the existing stock is critical.”
The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority hopes to attract between 800 and 1,000 padel members in the first year of the new courts, and see this double in the coming years.
Under its business model, there would eventually be about 8,300 padel players a month, compared with an estimated indoor tennis usage of 4,000 players per month.
However the outdoor courts have been criticised for their concrete surface and “wind tunnel” problems.
More than 8,000 people a month take part in tennis lessons or courses, pay and play and social tennis sessions across indoor and outdoor courts.
The petition described the proposed conversion of the indoor tennis courts to padel courts as “a blow to all of us who rely on accessible and affordable year-round tennis”.
It said the “iconic” tennis centre hosted grassroots, over 55s, county, elite and wheelchair players as well as school and university competitions.
The petition states: “We believe replacing these facilities with commercial padel courts will reduce public access to essential sports infrastructure, erode Olympic legacy, severely affect the development of UK tennis talent, and damage community wellbeing.
“There is a great shortage of indoor tennis facilities, locally, regionally and nationally, and these courts are some of the finest in the country. Please defend this irreplaceable public asset.”
The plan had originally been to create padel courts on two of the outdoor tennis courts, but this was amended to focus on the indoor proposal. Prior to the outcry, the plan had been to open the indoor padel courts on October 1.
Padel is most commonly played in doubles on an enclosed court measuring 10m by 20m. Singles padel is played on a narrower court.
Players use a solid, stringless racket and a ball similar to a tennis ball but with slightly lower pressure. Players serve underhand, and the ball can be played off the surrounding glass and mesh walls after it bounces.
The LTA also supports the growth of padel and wants to increase the number of players from 129,000 to 400,000 a year and increase the number of padel courts from 500 to 1,000.
