In December 2008, the council, the Port Lincoln Tennis Association, the Port Lincoln Football League and other interested parties met to discuss the council's proposal of applying for a grant to develop the Eyre Park Sports Precinct through the Community Infrastructure program but in May this year, the Federal Government informed the council it was unsuccessful with this grant.

Port Lincoln Tennis Association president Julie Polkinghorne addressed the Port Lincoln City Council meeting last Monday, explaining the need to upgrade the courts to Australian standards, with the courts being dubbed occupational health and safety hazards in 2004, 2006 and 2008 by Tennis SA.

There are now eight courts on Tennyson Terrace, four with lights, and six courts on Nelson Square, although four of the courts are unusable.

She said it would be ideal to have 16 resurfaced courts, but the tennis association could cope with 14, and new fencing was also greatly needed.

Mrs Polkinghorne said if the courts were redone properly they would last for between 10 and 20 years, which was better than if repairs were made.

The Port Lincoln City Council has allocated $100,000 for the 2009/2010 budget for repair work on the current tennis courts, which would be ratified at the June 15 meeting.

Council chief executive officer Geoff Dodd said he appreciated the association was frustrated but the council was hesitant in committing a significant amount of money when there were possible alternatives to build a new tennis facility.

He said to rebuild the courts on Tennyson Terrace would cancel out other long term options like putting courts at Ravendale, which was a long-term alternative.

Mrs Polkinghorne said the $100,000 fell short of the $500,000 needed to upgrade the sites to Australian standards, which would also allow $96,000, which is $8000 per court from Tennis Australia to be accessed for the upgrade.