Reigate LTC Development Plan

I am pleased to be able to let you know that after a long period of research and discussion theManagement Committee, as advised by our Development Group, is now able to produce some proposals for the way forward on a court resurfacing programme. We have tried very hard to take into account all the views and opinions that we have received and we hope that the proposaldetailed below will meet with approval from the majority of RLTC members.

Objectives

We wantto achieve four things for the future development of Reigate LTC.

  1. To increase playable hours on our eight courts.
  2. To try to provide a selection of surfaces that would meet the needs of all sections of our membership, including juniors and senior citizens.
  3. To provide high quality facilities to ensure that we keep our position as a leading local Club.
  4. To minimise disruption whilst installation is taking place.

Ideally we would like to re-surface all the eight courts, redevelop the ‘bungalow’ and seriously consider a winter ‘bubble’.

Overall Development Plan

We envisage that the full Development Plan for the club will take 8-10 years to be fully realised. It will take this amount of time to raise the money year by year and for the actual resurfacing and building to take place. Therefore we will have 4-5 stages over this timeframe as we develop particular sections of the full Development Plan.

Important Points to Note

Before reading our recommendations there are some points to bear in mind.

  • Our first priority has to be to cure the severe and worsening drainage problems on courts 3 and 4. There would be no point laying a complete new surface until we know whether the recommended remedial work on the drainage has been successful.
  • Any court, whether it is astro-turf, or artificial clay, requires a tarmac base.
  • We have researched “Poraflex”, a new hard court surface but somelocal examples have been shown to be prone to flooding.Given that RLTC suffers from large amounts of underground streams this may not be the surface for us. The investigation on this surface continues.

Proposal– Stage 1

Date / Work to be Carried Out / Details
Autumn 2015 / Remedial work on 3 and 4 / Raising the level of the courts, increasing the size of the sumps and increasing the capacity of the pumps. NB We cannot discharge water onto the railway line as it is against the law.
Approximate time scale 5-6 weeks
Autumn 2015 / Raising the level of Courts 1 and 2 to improve drainage, laying tarmac, painting and lining it for use in winter 2015 / This is necessary to ease the drainage and to have a surface suitable for laying artificial clay in the spring. This would not be the black temporary surface seen elsewhere.
Approximately 4-5 weeks
Spring 2016 / Lay artificial clay (Chiltern Lano Grand Clay) on Courts 1 and 2. / We will also install floodlights on Courts 1 & 2 - subject to planning permission.
Time scale for clay courts 2-3 weeks
Time scale for floodlights will depend on planning
Autumn 2016 / Assess success of remedial work on 3 and 4 in regard to the drainage problem and members’ views on the artificial clay on 1 and 2 before progressing any further. / The options then for 3&4 could be any of the modern playing surfaces, acrylic, clay, new generation porous acrylic, or to remain with the new Tarmac (to be decided in Autumn 2016)
Approximate time scale 2-3 weeks.

The thinking behind Stage 1 is as follows:

  • We have to sort out the drainage problems on courts 3 & 4
  • Courts 1 & 2 have to be raised.
  • The sub-base on Courts 1 and 2 is insufficient and this has led to uneven surface and cracking, therefore this needs to be corrected by increasing the depth of the sub base, which will also aid drainage under any new court surface.
  • If we need to work on courts 3 & 4, it makes commercial sense to also undertake work on courts 1 & 2 (as they are next to each other for easier access for plant etc.)
  • We will lay artificial clay on Courts 1 and 2 for its proven fast drainage and playability after rain and the excellent playing characteristics it offers. Feedback on this surface will then help formulate our future surfacing plans for the next 8 - 10 years.

Please note that all time scales and court descriptions are approximate as they can change drastically with the weather conditions and or availability of a contractor.

Conclusion

Further stages will be decided upon in due course, but we feel that we ought to make a start on these developments as soon as possible.

I hope this plan will be a success but if you have comment on this briefing note why not start up and participate in a forum discussion on the RLTC web site. We are interested in transparent consultation on this very important subject

Alternatively you can submit your views to

Deborah Hamlin, Chair, on behalf of RLTC Management Committee

1