We would welcome any further consultation with council and look forward to receiving your response to our submission.

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1 19 th July 2011 Ms Cathy Fyffe SENIOR CONSULTANT Australia SGL Group Pty Ltd Level Albert Road South Melbourne 3205 Dear Cathy, Re: Ivanhoe Tennis Club / Ivanhoe Park Draft Master Plan Thank you for approving the short extension in time to submit our submission in response to the recently published draft master plan for Ivanhoe Park. Following the Ivanhoe Tennis Club s Annual General Meeting which was held last evening, the committee and membership community wish to submit the following information to be considered by council prior to any developments or changes taking place. We would welcome any further consultation with council and look forward to receiving your response to our submission. In the mean time if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Yours sincerely, GLENN ARNOLD President Ivanhoe Tennis Club 2011/2012 Mobile:

2 P a g e 1 Ivanhoe Tennis Club Submission July 2011 Ivanhoe Park Draft Master Plan Banyule City Council. Summary The Ivanhoe Tennis Club is distressed by the draft master plan for Ivanhoe Park. The Ivanhoe Tennis Club needs the facilities of Ivanhoe Park as these courts represent essentially half the club s facilities. The tennis facilities are used by family and individual members and school children and others who use the courts. In all several hundred local people would be unnecessarily disadvantaged. The Master Plan should be amended to retain and improve the tennis courts. It is not necessary to remove the tennis courts to provide a benefit to another sport. The Tennis Club is not against the expansion of croquet if necessary, but it should not be at the expense of another sport. Ivanhoe Tennis Club background and culture The Ivanhoe Tennis Club will be 100 years old next year. It is currently home to many families and individual tennis players. The Club has two active coaches and social and competition tennis. The Club has managed to survive many ups and downs including two world wars and the great depression. The Tennis Club s future however would of course be limited without tennis facilities. It should go without saying and be obvious to anyone that tennis courts are a fundamental need of a tennis club. The long history of the Tennis Club is a vital point of consideration. The facilities developed by past generations were put in place for current Ivanhoe residents. Those generations passed on a legacy to us. We must preserve and maintain these facilities for future generations. The Club has a family culture valuing organized tennis, social tennis, coaching and competition. The Club is community based with key access. Not all other clubs provide key access and this provides a point of difference. This system enables broad usage of the facilities by users such as children who can access the courts. The Club provides affordable family based access being a fee at present of less than $200 for a family for an entire year without a joining fee. This compares for instance with fees of $ at other clubs plus joining fees 1. The location of the two sites provides walking distance access for many seniors, children and families. The Ivanhoe Tennis Club has weekly programmed tennis for men (Wednesday), women (Tuesday) and seniors (Monday) and juniors (Saturday). The Ivanhoe Tennis Club won the Junior Section 26 Boys Pennant to add to the long success of the club. The Club was also the winner of the Northview Shield. This is was a great honor as it is for first place out of all 340 teams in the Association based on percentage. Ivanhoe Park courts are necessary for competition. Junior competition has two teams (section 20 and section 22). All courts at both locations, being John Street and Ivanhoe Park are used for Saturday morning junior competition. Ivanhoe Park courts are necessary for coaching. The Club is home to two tennis coaches; Colin Gibb and Scott Rosewarne. All courts at both sites being John Street and Ivanhoe Park are used for coaching of children and adults. 1 E.g.

3 P a g e 2 Ivanhoe Park courts are necessary as part of the wider community need. There is overall a shortage of tennis courts in the Banyule area. A cooperative arrangement exists with Eaglemont to share courts and arrangements with local schools are available. The Tennis Club occupies a modest site at John Street and a modest part of Ivanhoe Park. Ivanhoe Park is approximately 53,000 square meters. The club occupies approximately 2.6% of this area. The Tennis Club uses the least area of all the sporting clubs at Ivanhoe Park. This small area is a vital part of the Club s facilities. The Club s request simply is to be allowed to exist and continue to use what is a very small part of the park. Appropriate sources of information about the needs of various sports The Tennis Club members are concerned that some negative comments about tennis that are reflected in the draft report may have been drawn from contributors who are not members of the Tennis Club. The Tennis Club does not make comments about the needs of other park users nor comment on their facilities. The Tennis Club believes that it is appropriate to draw information about tennis at Ivanhoe Park from people interested in tennis and the Tennis Club rather than other interests. Room for all The Tennis Club believes that there is plenty of space at Ivanhoe Park for all users. The Club welcomes the neighborly sportspeople who enjoy the Park. The Tennis Club does not wish harm on any other sporting group. The Tennis Club does not seek to displace any other user to advance its own interests. The Tennis Club occupies the smallest amount of space of another other sport at the park. The area occupied is very modest being about 2.6% of the Park. Expansion of croquet if necessary The Tennis Club makes no comment on the current use of the croquet courts, how often they are used, nor the future needs of croquet. The Tennis Club notes as a matter of local history that there were additional croquet facilities at John Street but they were converted to a bowling green apparently due to dwindling Croquet Club membership 2. Other than pointing out this historical fact, the Tennis Club would not presume to understand the needs of another sporting group and respectfully requests that the same courtesy be extended to tennis interests. If it transpires that another croquet court is needed then there is ample space to the East of the existing courts. This would seemingly provide adequate nearby space, would be close to parking on Heidelberg Road and avoid the wasteful destruction of a good tennis facility. There would be small loss of open space and the loss of a small number of trees. However the demolition work associated with the unnecessary removal of the tennis courts would result in the destruction of just as many if not more trees that surround the tennis court. There is no notable shortage of passive open space and trees in Banyule such that the Tennis Club needs to be sacrificed. 2

4 P a g e 3 The survey shows a high level of awareness of tennis Despite tennis occupying the smallest sporting area in the park, the report notes that an overwhelming majority being 84% of people surveyed were aware of tennis at Ivanhoe Park. The awareness of football at the park was only about 10% higher. Considering that the Tennis Club occupies only 2.6% of the Park and the football ground is physically much more prominent this indicates a very strong awareness of the tennis facility. The survey shows that location is everything The Tennis Club notes that the key reason that users visit the park is that it is close to home (100%). This reason dominates all others (the next nearest being 30%). It clearly demonstrates that accessibly and location and of prime importance. Most people rated the facilities at the park as being acceptable. All things of course can be improved, however, but as the real estate maxim goes position, position, position it is the local location of facilities that is vital. The facility is used by visiting players and guests but mainly by local people. The survey clearly demonstrates that location and accessibly are vital and thus supports the retention of the tennis facility for the needs of people nearby to Ivanhoe Park. Inaccurate and unreasonable comments on facilities There are comments about the tennis facilities that the Tennis Club believes are inaccurate and further fail to reflect and value the community s effort at maintenance. For instance poor condition is used in relation to the Ivanhoe Park tennis courts and it is said that the building is not used. The Tennis Club does not agree with the inclusion of these comments. The building is used for a storeroom, quasi-tea room and shelter. The Tennis Club rejects and is offended by the description of the courts as being in poor condition. It is true that the courts could be improved but that is true of any court or facility. Expressions such as poor condition are unfair, inaccurate and unreasonable considering the efforts of coaches and members to conduct maintenance. It is unreasonable and unwelcome to include descriptions of this type in relation to volunteer and member-based facilities especially when it is noted within the report that other facilities, for instance the croquet courts, are maintained by the council itself. If the council were to provide similar support to the Tennis Club, which we recommend, we believe it likely that the courts would be improved. Environmentally friendly The most environmentally friendly product of any type is one that already exists and within easy reach of local users. Facilities should be preserved and maintained rather than proceeding with the wasteful process of destruction and then later deciding tennis courts need to be put back in some other part of the park. Facilities like the Ivanhoe Park courts provide easy walking access for surrounding residents removing the need for car transport and the associated effect on congested roads and energy use. Further, younger people can be self sufficient in a safe and local place instead of being ferried about in motor vehicles. This is also true for other people who do not drive. Lighting at Ivanhoe Park The Tennis Club s lit courts at John Street are near fully utilized during weeknights, requiring members to seek other alternatives for night time play. With weekday and weekend commitments, this is often the only time slots available to many adults. Lights at Ivanhoe Park would be a practical addition. This would also assist with passive security of the surrounding pathways.

5 P a g e 4 Shortage of tennis courts There is an increasing demand for tennis courts for competition. The junior Association has difficulty with having sufficient tennis courts. It is evident by the need for instance for the Association to work carefully on the season fixture in order to dovetail Eaglemont teams onto the Ivanhoe Club courts. The Ivanhoe Club works cooperatively with Eaglemont in this regard. The destruction of two good courts would worsen this situation. With current encouragement of physical exercise of all ages, the demand for facilities is not likely to reduce. Organized tennis is programmed most week nights. Lights at Ivanhoe Park will assist with this situation. Master Plan Amendments for Future Development and Improvement of Tennis The Master Plan should include the following: 1. The retention of the two Ivanhoe Park tennis courts which are essential to the fabric of the Ivanhoe Tennis Club; 2. Install lights at Ivanhoe Park to cater for increasing coaching and play especially during Winter; 3. Ongoing regular maintenance or a financial contribution to the same value should be provided by Council for the tennis courts at Ivanhoe Park to the equivalent level as is said to be provided for the croquet courts 3,4 ; 4. Expand the small pavilion to include a small tea room with a sink and a room with a unisex toilet; 5. An alternative would be to construct a small pavilion outside the tennis court fence on the South side; 6. Include the Tennis Club on Banyule City Council signs that appear around the Park; 7. Improve lighting and landscaping of the paths to the tennis courts especially from the Boulevard; 8. Longer term consideration could be given to alternative surfaces. 3 At This would also seem to be reasonable and fair in the case of the bowling green as noted at of the draft report