Forgotten basketball court in Hilsea, Portsmouth, being regenerated

The News, Portsmouth

The council is investing £60,000 into the creation of a new court.

Transcript

00:30Well, as many people, many residents will know, this Hilsey Basketball Court has been

00:48the same for decades. It hasn't really had that much love and care and it's kind of cut

00:54off from the main road. So the idea of this is to make this a community project, make

01:00this a 2-3x3 basketball court, which means we can look at Basketball England to be more

01:06national competitions, but also create another entrance to the Basketball Court for Memorial

01:11Garden which also only has one entrance. So we're connecting the Mountbatten Centre and

01:17Northern Parade a little bit more than it used to be. It'll be a real addition to the

01:22community once it's complete. So what changes are going to turn up for the Basketball Court

01:25itself that we're standing on? So it's going to be new tarmac across all of it. It's going

01:30to have really up-to-standard fencing which can handle having the balls being hit all

01:35the time. Then we're going to have, like Orchard Park, we're going to have all the floor painted

01:39and that's going to be done by the community. And then we're going to have murals as well

01:42on the wall. This wall is huge if you haven't seen it. It's a lot of art to be put up. And

01:49what other changes are going to take place? You mentioned the entrance over there. That's

01:52going to be widened for disabled access and some other things. That's right. So we want

01:56it accessible for everyone. We want to make it very inclusive. So we will be having some

02:01improvements in Memorial Garden as well to allow wheelchair users to come through as

02:05well as on the corner here. We're going to have lighting, hopefully it's a bit of a 50-50

02:11because of where the electrical mains are. Have some CCTV also to make it very secure

02:17and make people feel safe if they walk through at night. What are your thoughts on this area

02:22here just being left the same for so long? Have people used it less, for example, because

02:27of that? I think so. I mean, if you actually look at the basketball hoops, they're not

02:32necessarily in great condition, but it is very urban, it is very street basketball.

02:37People do use it, but it's quite hidden. So I would say it's got less usage, but at the

02:42same time, you know, I think once it's all been regenerated, it'll look really nice and

02:48people will feel attracted. And also it'll have the right amount of exposure for people

02:51to go to it knowing that they can have that kind of outside concrete basketball. And what's

02:57the timeframe on the project? I mean, ideally I wanted it by the end of the summer, but

03:02it's looking more like autumn now. I'm not going to say exactly when in autumn, but autumn

03:05is the target and the aim. I mean, it's kind of exciting because it's going to be in line

03:10with other things that's going to be completed around Hilsey leading up.

03:14It's another social infrastructure project for Hilsey and from the residents I've spoken

03:18to it appears to be desperately needed. There's obviously lots of stuff that Hilsey has to

03:22offer, but so for the infrastructure, it's something that's lacking so far. Do you think

03:27this would be a very good addition for the north of the city to encourage more people

03:31to come up here? I think one of the main things about this is it's free. It's free to use,

03:37it's free to access, and it just enables people of all ages to come and actually play

03:43this sport that they like and love. And we have kind of lost that over the years in Hilsey.

03:49While Hilsey has improved a lot in the leisure, it's also then come on price tag, whereas

03:54before there used to be things free. So for example, we used to have all lots of goalposts

03:58over in Alexander Park. I've got some moved, some put back in, but in reality, we've just

04:03lost those additional football nets. So this would just be bringing something back in better

04:11quality, but also it will bring all sorts of people, all different levels, knowing they

04:16can use it. Whereas at the moment, I don't think that's the case. I think we just have

04:19people occasionally come in and play in here. We want to make it a little bit more broader.

04:23Yes, I think it will allow people to spend more time outside having a picnic in the Moira

04:30Garden while playing some basketball.

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