News from Westminster Labour

Labour calls for inquiry into why Paddington Rec tennis coaches forced out of business

Labour Councillors have called for an independent inquiry into the way in which two long-standing and well-regarded tennis coaches working at Paddington Recreation Ground have been forced out of business by huge Westminster City Council fee increases. Labour Councillors say that Council has also refused to allow the tennis coaches to include their phone and email details in the Paddington Rec information leaflets and has refused to give the coaches the ability to cancel bookings on the day as a result of client illness or other unavoidable problems.

Leader of the Labour Group, Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, who presented a 300 name petition to the Council in Autumn 2008, said:

“The Council has ignored all the practical and positive points which I have put to them aimed at resolving the current unsatisfactory situation at Paddington Rec. What possible reason can there be for not allowing the two tennis coaches to include their phone and email details in the tennis information leaflets, as they have done for the past decade and is standard at other public courts in central London? Why has the Council deliberately ignored the fact there is a big difference in the cancellation arrangements for individuals and coaches in that when an individual cancels on the day there is no financial penalty but when the coach has to cancel on the day (i.e. giving less than 24 hours notice) he still has to pay the court fee?

“After battling away for the past 12 months, I now believe that the Council has no intention of making it possible, in any practical and meaningful way, of enabling the two tennis coaches to operate at Paddington Rec. I cannot understand why this is so, other than there must be a hidden Council agenda somewhere which is preventing this. I am determined to uncover what this hidden agenda is and I have called on Council Chief Executive Mike More to establish an independent inquiry into the operation of the contract at Paddington Rec, including the appointment and subsequent recent departure of the Head Tennis Coach.”

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