Fife courts tennis funding for indoor centre

Fife councillors want Sportscotland to serve up some funding to develop a new indoor tennis centre in the region.

Lesley Laird and Mike Shirkie have applied for a slice of the £5.8 million the body is investing in tennis nationally over the next four years in a bid to tap into Andy Murray’s phenomenal success.

A four-court indoor tennis centre has been proposed for the Fleet Grounds in Rosyth, bought by Fife Council from the Ministry of Defence.

A £400,000 investment is transforming the ground into a sports hub with indoor and outdoor pitches, lighting and changing facilities.It is due to open in November.

Deputy council leader Mrs Laird said: “On the back of Andy Murray’s success we have seen a 45% increase in people playing tennis, with the biggest increase being junior players.

“We want to take advantage of this interest in the sport and make sure Fife has the best facilities to develop the sport moving forward.”

Mr Shirkie added: “Fife Labour’s manifesto pledge was to develop sport across Fife and we have done that with work starting shortly on Scotland’s first cycle circuit and Fife’s first indoor football academy.

“An indoor tennis centre will help support the development of the sport in Fife and also attract more people to the sport.

“It’s been an ambition to improve local sports facilities in the Rosyth area.

“After purchasing the Fleet Grounds we now have funding to start work on resurfacing the synthetic training pitch and improve the facilities.

“An indoor tennis centre will be a great addition to the Fleet Grounds and will secure the site as one of Fife’s sporting centres of excellence.”

Mrs Laird and Mr Shirkie have written to the chief executive of Tennis Scotland to request a meeting to discuss how funding can be secured for the project.

Sportscotland and Tennis Scotland, the sport’s governing body, have announced a four year investment plan to improve facilities and widen access across the country.