Campaigners have served up furious objections to a Lanarkshire tennis club's proposals to develop a local greenspace.
Rutherglen Tennis Club (RTC) want to transform part of Overtoun Park into covered all-weather courts that, they say, will be an 'ace' addition to the area.
However, a group of locals feel the plans will take away an area that could be used by all residents.
In September, South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) granted the club 'heads of terms' for the land, meaning they could progress their proposal further, including plans to site a café for the community there.
The plans were praised when first announced by Judy Murray, who has been vocal about capitalising on the success of her sons Andy and Jamie to create a legacy for tennis in Scotland.
Susan McGinley, who runs the Save Overtoun Parks Greenspace for The Future group, told Lanarkshire Live of serious concerns about the development going ahead.
She told us : "The proposal to put a private members tennis club on the land was not even communicated to residents or park users from the council.
"If the council wanted to develop the land, there should have been an open and transparent process for all interested parties to submit proposals for consideration.
"The world and our views have changed dramatically in recent times.
"Lockdown has made us value our local green outdoor space more than ever and it’s much cherished. We can’t keep clearing sites to build more, particularly when we have lots of sites that could be re-purposed all over Rutherglen.
"Public Health Scotland are constantly driving home the benefits of getting outdoors for our physical health and our mental health, but here we are with the loss of more green space being proposed."
The group say the land could be invested in for a wider range of sports, rather than just tennis, pointing to the BMX area in the park as a prime example.
Susan added: "In an ideal world, we would like to see the council upgrade the BMX part. It’s a gold medal Olympic sport now and it’s been neglected for decades.
"Having a private member's club come into develop the land is just taking the heat off a lack of investment in parks and recreational services in Rutherglen for years now.
"We want to see real investment by the council.
"So much of the park has been eroded in living memory. We now have private sheltered housing, private care homes, the bowling club is now run privately and the land next to that is fenced off and under lease to Grow 73.
"Now we have a private tennis club wanting to take space. It feels like enough is enough."
The Overtoun Park group, which has over 100 members onboard, have already spoken to the Green Party to secure political support for their campaign.
However, RTC officials insist the new facility would not just be for members and that they believe the plans could help additional sports too..
RTC president Gareth Ellor told us : "We want a facility that the whole community can enjoy.
"We're a tennis club so we are going to focus on tennis, but there is a lot of space within the proposed facility that can be used for other things.
"The café will be at the heart of it all - we had 679 responses to our own survey and 85 per cent said they would use the café.
"There'll be public toilets, which the park doesn't currently have, and we're also looking at pool tables, table tennis tables and table football tables there - it can be somewhere for kids and teenagers to use.
"I hear on social media a lot that there's been a land grab by a posh tennis club but we are not for profit and we want tennis to be really accessible.
"We've had Cambuslang Harriers talking to us about how they could use the facility and the Glasgow South table tennis club have chatted to us too.
"The project is not that far on, and the layout, the design, the aesthetics are all still up for design before we go back to the Council. We are happy to speak to anyone about it."
In August 2020 Judy Murray enthused about the plans, saying: "If only we had more clubs as visionary, ambitious, pro-active and welcoming as Rutherglen, tennis in Scotland would be in a much stronger position."
A yearly membership for the club costs £216, however the proposal would see the courts available on a pay as you play basis as well.
SLC say they have been in discussion with RTC "for some time" about its plans for Overtoun Park, confirming they leased an area of land to the club for this on September 29.
A spokesman told us: "Proposals will require planning consent and more detail on the design, construction, parking and operation of the facility will be required before an application can be submitted for formal consideration.
"In terms of Overtoun Park overall, we have invested in this popular and important public green space in recent years, including its play facilities and our work with a local group to develop an allotment site on a disused bowling green.
"We will continue to work with all local groups to ensure the park continues to thrive for the benefit of local communities.”
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