Court Access and Entry Planning Checklist

Walk the route people take from where they arrive to the edge of the playing surface, and write down every gate, step, kerb, corner and change of surface along it.

Writing the route down in order is what turns a vague sense of the approach into something a designer or contractor can respond to.

Note what the route is made of along its length, and where it becomes grass, gravel, bare soil or an uneven surface in wet weather.

The condition of the approach when it is wet decides whether people arrive with clean shoes, and it only shows itself if you look during rain.

Mark the narrowest points and the tightest corners along the route, without trying to judge whether they would be adequate.

What width a route needs for the people and machines that use it is for a qualified professional to establish, not something to settle by eye.

Walk the same route after dark and note where you cannot make out the ground, the edges, a step or the gate itself.

Most court sites are reached in the dark for part of the season, and the approach is regularly forgotten when lighting is discussed.

How an approach is lit is a question for a qualified lighting professional, and light reaching neighbours is confirmed locally with the local authority.

Record whether the route passes through a private garden, past windows or across ground that is used for something else entirely.

A route crossing private or working ground raises questions about who may use it and when, long before any gate is chosen.

Note who else uses the same route, such as household members, groundstaff, deliveries or people heading for a different part of the site.

Shared routes are where conflicts appear, and listing the users is what makes those conflicts visible while a plan can still change.

List everyone who would reach the court, such as household members, club members, coaches, junior players with parents, visiting teams and groundstaff.

Different arrivals want different things from an entrance, and the list is the simplest way to show a designer who it is really for.

Note what people carry, such as bags, ball baskets, nets, a wheeled hopper, a buggy or equipment brought in for a single session.

What is being carried decides whether an opening can have a step, a stiff latch or a closer on it, and it is rarely mentioned unprompted.

Write down whether anyone who uses the site has told you they find the approach difficult, and record exactly what they said rather than your interpretation.

What people have actually said is far more useful than a general assumption, and it gives a professional something specific to work with.

Whether an approach suits people with limited mobility is established by a qualified professional and by what applies locally, never by an owner assessment.

Record when people arrive, such as evenings after school, Saturday mornings or during coaching sessions, and whether they come together or in ones and twos.

Everyone arriving at once creates a queue at the opening that never appears when two people turn up, and the pattern is easy to observe.

Note where people wait when the court is still in use, and whether they end up standing on the route itself while they do it.

Waiting happens somewhere whether or not it was planned for, and on most sites it happens squarely in the doorway.

Consider how people leave, particularly when it rains or when a session ends and several groups move at once.

Leaving is quicker and less careful than arriving, and it is when gates get propped open and latches get broken.

Note whether anyone entering would have to cross a playing area that is in use in order to reach another one.

Walking across or behind play is a constant interruption on shared sites, and it is decided entirely by where the openings sit.

Ask a specialist court contractor and the relevant governing body where an opening may sit in relation to the lines and the clear space around them.

An opening cannot be sited from a sketch; the relevant governing body and a specialist contractor establish what is possible for your sport and standard.

Record which way you would want an opening to swing, and note what it would swing over or into on each side of the line.

Swing direction is governed by the ground, the wind and what stands nearby, and stating a preference early avoids a gate that fouls a post or a slope.

Consider whether an opening should close behind people on its own, and note what that would mean for somebody carrying equipment in both hands.

An opening that closes itself solves one problem and creates another, and the trade is better made knowingly than by default.

Note that a latch or a closer makes a noise every time it is used, and record how close the nearest window or garden is to it.

Gate noise is among the most common complaints on a court site and has nothing at all to do with how the game is played.

Decide whether more than one opening would be wanted, and write down what each of them would be for.

A second opening is usually asked for after the fence is up, which is when adding one is at its most disruptive.

Write down who currently holds a key or another means of entry, and whether anybody knows how many are out there in total.

Key holding drifts on shared sites, and simply listing who has one tends to produce a surprise on its own.

Decide what happens when a key is lost or a member leaves, and record who would be responsible for sorting it out.

The arrangement for a lost key is what decides whether an entry system stays meaningful, and it is far easier to agree before anything is fitted.

Note who is expected to let visiting players, coaches or contractors in, and whether that person is reliably on site when needed.

An arrangement depending on one person being available quietly becomes a problem the first time they are away.

Ask a specialist contractor what entry options exist for a site like this, and note that anything powered is a separate question again.

Any powered gate or electrical entry arrangement belongs with suitably qualified people from the outset; confirm locally what applies before planning one.

Record whether the court is expected to be used when nobody responsible is present, and what you would want to be true at those times.

Nothing here establishes that an entry arrangement will keep people out; site security belongs with a qualified professional.

Note how people find out whether a court is free, and whether anyone regularly arrives to find it already occupied.

Access and booking are the same problem seen from two sides, and the entrance is where the disagreement actually takes place.

List the machinery that already reaches the court, such as a mower, a brush, a blower or a trailer, and note how each of them gets there.

Maintenance kit reaches a court somehow, and the route it takes is usually through an opening nobody chose with it in mind.

Ask a specialist contractor what has to reach the surface when a court is built and again when it is resurfaced, and how it would get there.

Court construction and resurfacing bring heavier plant than day-to-day maintenance, and access for it is settled long before it is needed.

What plant a court surface needs, and what access it requires, is established by the specialist contractor and never assumed by the owner.

Note where materials could be unloaded and set down, and whether that ground is currently used for anything else.

Somewhere on the site becomes a loading area whether or not one was planned, and it is almost always a lawn.

Ask whether anything would have to cross the finished playing surface to reach the rest of the site, and what would protect the surface if it did.

How a finished court surface is protected from machinery is for the specialist contractor to determine; damage there is rarely a simple repair.

Record where a vehicle could turn or reverse near the site, and note anything it would have to avoid such as a soft verge, a bank or a manhole.

Turning space is a real constraint an owner can describe from experience, and it changes what can sensibly be brought in.

Note anything overhead along the approach, such as branches, cables or a low structure, and anything underfoot that would not take a load.

Overhead cables and buried services are traced by suitably qualified people before machinery is planned to pass beneath or over them.

Look at the last few paces before the surface and note what people are standing on immediately before they step onto it.

Whatever is underfoot at the threshold travels onto the court, which makes this the single most useful observation for keeping a surface clean.

Record whether grass, clippings, gravel, soil or leaves sit next to the entrance and are carried in on shoes and wheels.

Loose material beside an opening migrates onto the surface constantly, and it affects both cleaning and how the surface plays.

Consider whether somewhere to clean or change footwear is wanted, and note where people would actually stop long enough to use it.

A cleaning point away from where people naturally pause simply gets ignored, so position matters more than the fitting itself.

Walk the approach after heavy rain and mark where water stands, where it runs across the route and where the ground turns soft.

Standing water on the approach is both a nuisance and a clue about how the site drains, and it only reveals itself in the wet.

How water on the approach is managed is a question for a qualified drainage professional, since changes there can affect neighbouring ground.

Note where bottles, wrappers and tape end up now, and where a bin would have to sit for people to actually use it.

Litter collects at the point where people stop, which is nearly always just inside or just outside the opening.

Record what is wheeled onto the surface, such as a hopper, a net trolley or a maintenance brush, and what those wheels pass over on the way.

Wheels carry grit onto a surface more efficiently than shoes do, and the route they take is worth describing to a contractor.

Write down how somebody would describe this site to a caller who has never been here, including which entrance they should head for.

Describing where a site actually is turns out to be surprisingly hard under pressure, and writing it down in advance takes moments.

Ask the local authority and a qualified professional what would be expected about vehicle access to a site of this kind, and record the answer you are given.

What access routes must be kept available for emergency vehicles is determined by the local authority and qualified professionals, never assumed.

Consider what happens if the site is locked and somebody outside needs to get in quickly, and record who could open it at short notice.

A locked site is exactly where an entry arrangement becomes a problem, and it is worth thinking through while it is still theoretical.

Note who is contacted when a gate, a lock or the approach becomes unusable, and whether that is written anywhere players can see it.

A fault at the entrance stops the whole facility being used, and a visible contact route is what actually gets it reported.

Record whether anyone is likely to be on site alone, and how they would summon help from the court itself if they needed to.

Sites are used alone more often than anyone expects, and thinking about it early shapes both access and where a contact notice sits.

Arrangements for anyone on site alone, and for summoning help, are settled with qualified professionals and confirmed locally rather than decided from a record like this.

Decide who is responsible for keeping the approach clear of stored equipment, bins and parked vehicles.

Approach routes silently become storage, and naming somebody responsible is the only thing that keeps them open.