• OVER the past week we have been contacted by many concerned local residents in Belsize, who had heard rumours that the Globe Tennis Club may be under threat, (Out! Fears that tennis club will lose its home, July 27).

The club is a local institution which, like few others, really reflects the international and multicultural nature of our diverse community in Camden. It was founded by people who had emigrated from many different countries and it is open to all.

Children from all backgrounds come together here to learn how to play tennis. On the tennis court it does not matter if you are a child getting free tuition, or one whose parents pay. All learn together.

Some of the tenants’ representatives from the area got in touch to tell us that children from their estate loved going to the Globe, because it helped them to be active and to acquire new skills. They also told us that some of these children had gone on to learn how to coach tennis themselves.

Local people are really worried because they know that there are no sites locally that could replace this invaluable sporting facility if the land was developed for housing.

At a time when Camden Council is looking at ways to reduce child obesity, threatening a sporting facility which welcomes hundreds of children each year would be so counter-productive.

We’ve raised concerns about the way Camden thinks about exercise in our community before.

We were shocked to find out that in Camden it costs two-and-a-half times as much for a tennis coach to buy a licence to be able to give tennis lessons, than it does to buy a licence to open a betting shop! These are not the sort of priorities we should have in our borough.

We were very pleased to hear that, after much pressure from residents and councillors, Camden has now written to reassure the Globe that the tennis club is not under threat.

As councillors we would make sure that if there was talk again of closing the club and using the land to build housing, we would strenuously object. It’s vital that we come together to keep this resource open so that future generations can learn this wonderful game and the benefits that come from living a healthy active lifestyle.

CLLR LEILA ROY
CLLR CLAIRE-LOUISE LEYLAND
CLLR JONNY BUCKNELL
Conservative, Belsize ward
& STEVE ADAMS