Charges for using all Barnet’s public tennis courts are set to be introduced after the move was approved by councillors.

The council’s environment committee agreed to expand a ‘pay-and-play’ charging system to cover all of the borough’s publicly accessible courts during a meeting on Monday.

Charges are currently in place at courts in Hendon Park and Victoria Park, Finchley, but the remaining courts are largely free and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

According to a report presented to the committee, the charging model will boost tennis participation, encourage the “sustainable management and maintenance of the borough’s tennis courts” and deliver “a programme of investment” that will improve access for all residents.

The council’s fees and charges schedule, agreed by the policy and resources committee in September, includes a charge of £8 per hour for adults to use tennis courts during 2023/24 – up from £7.92 in 2022/23. The concessionary rate is set to increase from £3.93 to £4.

An annual season ticket membership will also be introduced, allowing the holder to make two one-hour bookings per week at a cost £35 per year for adults or £15 per year at a concessionary rate.

The council has pledged to continue providing three hours of free access on weekdays for all courts from 10am-11am and 4pm-6pm.

According to the report, a pilot scheme was run to compare an in-house booking model with a system run by a private provider. The council plans to go ahead with the in-house model after the results demonstrated that the sites managed by the local authority performed the best in terms of bookings secured, utilisation and income generated.

The report states that money raised from the charging system will enable the council to move to a “planned and scheduled programme of maintenance”, which will protect the quality and condition of the courts for the future. However, 235 out of 389 respondents to a public consultation (60%) said they were not in favour of charges being applied.

Speaking during the meeting, Conservative councillor Dean Cohen asked which of the consultation responses had been adopted by the council. Cassie Bridger, the council’s assistant director of green spaces and leisure, said the model proposed by the council, which includes the season ticket model and free-to-use slots on weekdays, took into account the responses to create a “balanced programme”.

Labour councillor Rishikesh Chakraborty raised concerns over the potential impact of the charges on usage levels, particularly with regard to low-income groups. Cassie pointed out that free slots would be available, and that the extra investment in courts aimed to encourage more people to play tennis.

When it came to the vote, members of the Conservative group voted against the specific recommendations to expand the fees and charges, indicating they were opposed to the increases planned for the next financial year. These recommendations were agreed by members of the Labour administration.

An earlier version of this story mistakenly attributed the comments from Rishikesh Chakraborty to a different councillor