Tamworth council spends $150,000 to finish Treloar Park tennis upgrade

"We've seen cost escalations of 40 or 50 per cent on many major projects around the state. This project is 150,000 bucks. It's a lot of money when you say it that way, but in the overall expense of the facility it's not a huge amount of money," mayor Russell Webb said while speaking to media after council's latest meeting.

The project to revamp the tennis centre with 13 new courts was severely delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and council says inflation in the construction industry during that time has made it nigh-on-impossible to complete within its initial $2.8 million budget, which was set back in 2018.

The mayor also responded to concerns that approving the $150,000 spend while seeking a 36.3 per cent special rate variation sends the wrong message to ratepayers.

"Some could say that, but we do have a Regional Development Fund, we've got money set aside in reserves for things like this that might happen," Cr Webb said.

"But I say to the community that might question whether that's a good move or not, have a think about the fact that we've built this facility from 2018 to now, and staff have worked very hard to minimise the extra cost."

When the tennis centre project was first approved, half the funding - $1.4 million - came from federal government grants; $975,000 from West Tamworth League Club; $200,000 from Tennis Australia; and $225,000 from Tamworth council.

But when COVID-19 forced Wests to close its doors, the project was left in limbo until it was rescued in 2021 by $400,000 in funding from the NSW government, plus another $200,000 from Tennis Australia.

With the extra injection of funds, construction began in 2022, and Cr Webb said staff have done their utmost to stretch council's initial 2018 contribution - plus $67,000 for project management costs - all the way to today in 2023, creating a "great outcome for Tamworth".

"We're now looking at another facility here that's got state-of-the art, top shelf, tennis facilities. They will very quickly start attracting some major tournaments here, and I think that's so important to get Tamworth recognised as one of the sporting capitals of not only regional NSW, but all of regional Australia," he said.

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The just-approved $150,000 brings council's total spend on the project to $442,000, and council's project manager Mark Gardiner said the funding will pay dividends down the line by reducing council's "ongoing maintenance liability".

"At the moment we're coming into a really dry period and the ground up there has been disturbed by the construction work. That additional funding allows us to bring in some topsoil, lay some turf, irrigate that area, as well as plant some more trees and shrubs," Mr Gardiner said.

"Without this additional funding from council we wouldn't have been able to complete all the tennis courts' playing infrastructure, so fencing, lighting, footpaths, and West Tamworth League Club is committed to delivering the clubhouse redevelopment in full."

The project manager also provided an updated timeline for the completion of the project, with work on the courts expected to finish in November, and an off-street car park to start construction in January 2024.

Eight out of 13 courts are already complete, with four being used by the North West Tennis Academy.

Remodelling on the tennis centre's clubhouse and pro shop, which has caused Wests to suffer its own $2 million budget blowout, is on track to finish in April 2024.

When asked why council is coughing up the extra money instead of the project's many other partners, Mr Gardiner said the landscaping work the $150,000 will be used for is a responsibility of council agreed to back in 2018.

"At that time there was an agreement put in place between those three project partners, and it was agreed that Wests would be responsible for the clubhouse redevelopment and any additional costs associated with that, and council would be responsible for upgrade work and any additional costs," he said.

In addition, the project manager said the centre will be ready to host major professional tournaments as soon as it finishes.

"There have been discussions already with Tennis NSW, Wests, and council in relation to future tournament content, and Tennis NSW is certainly committed to bringing some great content to Tamworth," Mr Gardiner said.

"At this point in time the decision has been to wait until we've got absolute certainty around project completion. There was suggestion of pencilling in a tournament for 2024, however people like myself who are actually delivering the project were hesitant to lock something in and risk missing that date."

Tamworth's mayor said the influx of tennis players and economic benefit from hosting major tournaments will pay back the city's investment many times over.

"It's no good building a brand-new kitchen and leaving the doors off it. If you're going to build something like that facility, you need to make sure it's finished, looks like a million bucks, and is going to present to the wider public as a magnificent facility," Cr Webb said.

"There's more benefit in spending that little bit of extra money to make it complete and finished so as we move on over the next few years, we can advertise it and the outcome will make the cost pale into insignificance."

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