Shire of Harvey approves extra $20k contribution to Brunswick Tennis Club court project to include pickleball

The Shire of Harvey is set to increase its contribution to the Brunswick Tennis Club’s redevelopment project by $20,000 as it seeks to expand its offerings.

Council had already committed $50,000 to the project but the club has asked for an additional contribution to allow pickleball to be played on the new courts.

President Julianne Hill presented to councillors at the September 26 meeting and said the club was initially considering a synthetic turf-type surface.

“Since then, we’ve also looked at the draft (council) recreation plan and one of the things in there was a suggestion from Tennis West to make sure we included, if we could, the possibility of playing pickleball on our courts,” she said.

“Synthetic court courts can’t sustain or have a pickleball court laid on them, and it’s the biggest growing sport in Australia at the moment.

“We’d really love to capture that and we know that you’re really keen to have a site in the Shire.”

Ms Hill said the Bunbury Tennis Club have already got a “massive” number of players from Pickleball Bunbury using their courts, with the group keen to use the Brunswick courts once the redevelopment is completed.

With additional pickleball capacity, the quote to bring the courts up to standard increases from $177,000 to $196,000.

Ms Hill noted the club had about 60 junior players, which she said was the largest number in the region as far as she could tell.

Cr Craig Carbone said the club was run by a great bunch of volunteers.

“If they can incorporate pickleball into the tennis club to enhance the facility and get more people involved, get more kids playing sport, I think it’s a great idea and not much money in the overall scheme of things,” he said.

The club will be required to fundraise an additional $10,000 before they will be able to access the funds.

Council’s additional contribution will be sourced from the community grants reserve, which will be adjusted at the mid year budget review.

Funding for the court project is being sourced from several sources, including the State Government, Albemarle and Qube.