COUNCILLORS want to meet representatives of Wellington Tennis Club before deciding whether to hand over a grant of £5,000 to the organisation towards a new court.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s finance committee and then the full council were left disappointed when no-one from the club attended their latest meetings where its grant application was being discussed.

The council decided to put off making a decision on the application until it had gained further information from the club.

The tennis club has been running for more than 50 years and wants to build a third court, which could cost in total close to £50,000 to install.

Councillors were told that planning permission had already been secured, a new lease had been acquired and the club had obtained building quotes for the project.

But they were slightly confused by the fact that the club was coming to them again for grant support when it had already been given £1,500 by the council towards the new court project in 2016 and then received a further £500 earlier this year towards the cost of the upkeep of existing facilities.

Cllr John Thorne, speaking at the council’s finance meeting, said: “We have already given them a grant for this. If they had come to us in 2016 wanting £5,000 we would have probably have done so but I’m puzzled why this hasn’t already been done.”

He said there were ‘lots of questions’ to be asked and wished someone from the club was at the meeting to help.

“I think we would want to support the club as it is an excellent organisation,” added Cllr Thorne. “I would want to give £5,000 but not on top of the £1,500 we have already given.”

Councillors agreed at the full council meeting to defer the grant application until further information had been gained.

A member of the tennis club will be invited to attend the next meeting of the council’s finance committee which will then make a recommendation to the full council.