Last updated October 2026
For Derbyshire clubs, villages and homeowners planning a tennis court, there is a real local price to start from. In November 2024 Great Longstone Parish Council, in the Derbyshire Dales, was given an estimate of £17,000 to £20,000 excluding VAT to resurface its multi-use court in porous macadam with acrylic paint, or £37,000 to £47,000 with a cushioned overlay. For a new set of four club courts the LTA’s figure is £150,000 to £200,000. Our tennis court construction page explains what moves the price.
Is our site inside the Peak District National Park?
If it is, the National Park Authority decides the planning application, not the district council. Much of the Derbyshire Dales and High Peak lies inside the park, so a club or homeowner there should check the boundary before drawing anything. Building control stays with the district. Fencing colour, floodlights and anything that changes the view are what the Authority will look at, so we price fencing and lighting as separate lines that can change if conditions are set.
Does Green Belt affect a court near Derby or Swadlincote?
It can. The Derby and Nottingham Green Belt covered 59,910 hectares in the 2025 statistics, and there is a separate 720-hectare belt around Burton-upon-Trent and Swadlincote. National policy (NPPF paragraph 154b) accepts appropriate outdoor sport facilities in it if they preserve openness, so a flat court is usually acceptable while tall fencing, lighting columns and a pavilion need a stronger case. Our planning guide covers what to send.
Does Derby need more tennis courts?
Not on the 2018 count, though quality varied. Derby’s Playing Pitch Strategy (2018) counted 117 courts on 25 sites, of which 50 were open to the community; 18 of those were rated good, 22 standard and 10 poor. It found existing supply could meet demand, and noted that the Derbyshire Tennis Centre was working with the LTA towards a larger centre on a new site. For a club with a poor court, that points to resurfacing rather than adding courts; see tennis court resurfacing.
What about artificial pitches in Derby?
There the strategy found a gap. Derby had six full-size 3G pitches, only four counted as available for training, and a shortfall of four pitches rising to six in future. It recommended multi-pitch hubs in the north and south of the city, naming Racecourse Playing Fields and Sinfin Moor Park, and resurfacing the hockey pitches at City of Derby Academy and Woodlands School. The council has since taken the Racecourse site forward: in February 2023 it set an £11.9 million budget for three new full-size 3G pitches there and a refurbished fourth, with work planned from spring 2023. A school or club elsewhere in the city should check what that hub now covers before bidding for its own pitch. See artificial pitches.
Which council handles a court outside Derby?
The district or borough: Amber Valley, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, Erewash, High Peak, North East Derbyshire or South Derbyshire, unless the site is in the National Park. Derby itself has its own city council. We name the correct authority on the quote.
Sources
- Great Longstone Parish Council, tennis court resurfacing proposal, Nov 2024
- Peak District National Park Authority, planning, read Oct 2026
- MHCLG, local authority Green Belt statistics 2024 to 2025, Oct 2025
- Derby City Council, playing pitch strategy and action plan, July 2018
- Derby City Council, Derby Football Hub, Feb 2023
- LTA, how much it costs to build or renovate a tennis court, read Oct 2026
How it works
- 01Send a plan and photosThe site, the surface and the date it must reopen.
- 02We check the groundLevels and where the water drains.
- 03Written quoteBuilt around your reopening date.
Could a village court be shared for netball and five-a-side?
Yes, and Great Longstone’s court shows how common that is in Derbyshire villages. A multi-use layout needs a ball-stop fence and more line colours, but the base and surface are the same work. Our MUGA page covers sizes, and every band is on our costs page .
Our plot is on a hillside. Does that add much?
It can, and in Derbyshire it is the most common reason a court costs more than expected. A tennis court must be almost level, so a sloping garden or village field needs cut and fill, sometimes a retaining edge, and a deeper sub-base where the ground is soft. Send your postcode so we can check the National Park boundary and Green Belt first, then photos showing the fall across the plot, any trees within a few metres of the court edge, and the route a digger and lorry would take. Those four things tell us more about your price than the court size does.
Who runs a Derbyshire court build?
We arrange a vetted local surfacing contractor to carry out Derbyshire work, confirm who within 2 working days, or tell you plainly if we can’t. You deal with Alex Winser throughout, and nothing is booked until you have the written quote and know who is doing the work.