Rutherglen Tennis Club hope for green light on ambitious plans

Rutherglen Tennis Club president Gareth Ellor hopes they can take an important first step when ambitious plans to build covered courts at Overtoun hit a major milestone.

South Lanarkshire Council’s Housing and Technical Resources Committee will today (Wednesday) meet to decide whether to lease the land to the club.

Covered courts are part of a major ‘Project 100’ plan to renovate the clubhouse and create a new community amenity to mark the club’s centenary.

In November the club submitted a detailed proposal to SLC to secure a ‘heads of terms’ agreement to lease the plot of land in Overtoun Park for 25 years for a ‘peppercorn rent’.

Ellor explained: “It’s a big milestone, because obviously we can’t proceed into the fundraising stage if we don’t have security of the site.

“The council decide on Wednesday whether to give us heads of terms, which gives us that opportunity and security on the site to progress to the next stage. This is only the first stage, we’ve still got to get through planning and raise the money to do it, so we’ve still got many hurdles to cross.

Gareth says a lot of hard work has gone into the club's plans, and hopes they don't fall at the first hurdle (Rutherglen Reformer)

“We’re still way off doing it, but it’s an important first step, and that’s what we’re treating it as.

“If we do get over this first hurdle, it will then be about engaging with the community to make it as good as it possibly can be for everyone to enjoy.”

Gareth added: “If we don’t get this, we can’t really do it at all, because we can’t get funding unless you’ve got a plot of land,

“The project would be effectively dead.

“If it’s voted down, given all the time and effort that has gone into the project, and that we firmly believe it’s a good thing on balance for the community, we would want to understand the detail as to why.

“There may be some issues that we would want to tackle and perhaps put in a future application, but hopefully we don’t reach that position and it gets voted through on Wednesday.

“We’re a not-for-profit organisation that’s run by unpaid volunteers, so our argument is that you can’t possibly get better value for money as a community facility.”

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