The club-operated tennis facility at Mount Waverley Reserve has four undersized en-tout-cas courts with 2.5 courts lit.There is no room to expand the existing courts due to the minimal buffer (<1m) between the courts and the adjacent residential properties.

An independent Tennis Facility Audit and Condition Report (2018) confirmed all the existing club-operated courts and enclosures are non-compliant and too small to meet current standards. The report also noted that existing infrastructure, such as steps and light towers, make this problem worse (i.e. impact the run-off zone) and the tennis coach raised this as a concern when coaching youths who play at a high standard.

The Monash Tennis Plan (2021) recommends a minimum of 6 courts for sustainable clubs. Existing spatial constraints make it near impossible to develop 6 compliant courts at Mount Waverley Reserve without severely impacting the functionality, accessibility and local amenity, and significantly reducing the amount of public open space available in the reserve.

As a result, a club-operated tennis facility is not considered strategically sustainable at this site over the longer-term. The installation of new infrastructure (such as additional light towers) in the run-off zones on the existing courts is also not supported. It is recommended that any investment in club tennis at Mount Waverley Reserve would be better spent supporting the club’s relocation to a new site in accordance with the principles and priorities detailed in the Monash Tennis Plan (2021).

Officers have met several times with tennis club representatives to discuss the long-term sustainability of tennis at the reserve, for example:

• 16 September 2020 – meeting held to discuss the implications of Monash Tennis Plan 2021 and the findings of the Mount Waverley Tennis Facility Audit & Condition Report 2018
• 18 December 2020 – meeting held to present the preliminary findings of the options analysis and present the preferred functional layout, which due to site constraints, identified the reserve could not accommodate 6 compliant courts.At this meeting, a committee member shared that the club had had preliminary conversations with Essex Heights Tennis Club regarding a possible co-location or merger.

Understandably the tennis club wants some guarantees around their future. Officers have reassured the club representatives that the club would not be ‘forced’ to relocate or be left without a home, but from longer-term strategic perspective, tennis was not considered sustainable at this site.

It is recommended officers continue to assist and support the Mount Waverley Tennis Club to identify possible future relocation and/or merger opportunities with the view to facilitating an acceptable outcome, with the understanding that the club will continue to operate from Mount Waverley Reserve until a feasible option is identified.