SPORTS leaders are making a racket as they try to net a new indoor tennis court for Gourock.

Discussions are ongoing between politicians, tennis clubs and national sport organisations about where the proposed state-of-the-art facility should be installed.

Dougie Brown, who is the chairman of Gourock Community Sports Hub, says the town would be a ‘logical location’.

He told the Tele: “There are two successful tennis clubs in Greenock, namely Fort Matilda and Ardgowan, so they should give priority to Gourock. There shouldn’t even be a vote on it.

“The old courts at Gourock Park are an eyesore and very dilapidated. There is nowhere for people to play tennis in Gourock.”

The plan for an indoor facility in Inverclyde is part of the ‘Transforming Scottish Indoor Tennis’ initiative — a £15 million joint fund by the Lawn Tennis Association, Tennis Scotland and sportscotland to increase the number of people playing the sport in Scotland.

It is understood that Inverclyde Leisure and Inverclyde Council have agreed to put up two thirds of the local funding on the basis that the other third would come from the £15m national pot.

Dougie hopes Gourock Park will gain the advantage when it comes to considering where the indoor court would be located.

He said: “There are two places which are being considered in Inverclyde, Gourock Park and Rankin Park.

“But they have already spent £1m on Rankin Park.
“I can’t see any logical reason for it to be at Rankin Park.”

Gourock councillor Ronnie Ahlfeld says he been involved in the discussions with the national tennis bodies.

He said: “Several sites across Inverclyde are being assessed in terms of practicality and convenience and it’s true to say that Gourock is one of the areas that has been looked at in terms of any future development for tennis.

“Regardless of how the indoor court negotiations go, we would be reasonably confident that we could manage to get the tennis court in Gourock upgraded with a wee bit of work and get some floodlights.

“The opportunity for Gourock has not been dismissed but there are so many other factors that have to be considered.”