SIR – Looking at the Bradford Council planning website, I note a theme running through the comments posted by supporters of plans to expand Ilkley Tennis club.

Reference is repeatedly made to the need to maintain and expand the tennis club as a centre of excellence, one that can do good work in fostering new talent locally, and for the betterment of the sport as a whole.

On the face of it, this is an extremely laudable intention. However, the national press has carried reports that the Lawn Tennis Association had, as a result of “budget cuts”, scrapped plans to fund a number of public tennis courts around the country; seven out of eight planned public courts are now not going ahead (despite being funded to the tune of £60 million, from public money and Wimbledon profits).

Where new tennis courts would really make a difference is in those areas of the Bradford Metropolitan District where tennis is not currently available or affordable. The LTA might then be dissuaded from putting their apparently limited resources into the self-aggrandisement of a profit-driven company, and instead be encouraged to provide funding in the areas where its money is genuinely beneficial.

Simon Turner, Skipton Road, Ilkley