Bright floodlights blazing over tennis courts in a city park are wasting unnecessary energy, carbon emissions and money, according to a Norwich city councillor.
People living near Heigham Park have complained about floodlights automatically switching on even when no one is playing on the all-weather courts which were opened by the city council last July.
Green councillor Denise Carlo, who represents the Nelson ward, said: "This appears to be a design flaw in the way that the Norwich Parks tennis system operates because I’ve seen full floodlights lighting up empty courts at Heigham Park - and Eaton Park - during the hours of darkness.
"If this problem is being repeated on all-weather tennis courts run by the city council around the city, the amount of electricity, carbon emissions and money being wasted must be colossal."
Norwich City Council did not respond to a request for comment.
Floodlights contribute to artificial light pollution which is harming people’s ability to see the night sky, according to the journal Science.
The 10 original grass courts at Heigham Park were closed in 2017 as they were costing £39,000 per year to maintain and provided an income of just £2,700.
New courts were installed to build on the success of other city parks' tennis schemes at Eaton and Waterloo Parks by providing accessible and affordable sports facilities all year round.
But this is not the first time the courts at Heigham Park have caused controversy.
It had been due to open by April 2022 but by June no balls had been served.
The delay was because the courts still needed to be painted green.
While they were under construction they were targeted by paint-wielding vandals.
Campaigners were so angered by the authority's decision to remove the city’s previous facilities that they crowdfunded for a London lawyer to look into the planning process behind it - saying the money should have been spent elsewhere.
In a 17-page review, barrister Daniel Kozelko said it was his opinion that Norwich City Council fell below the standards of good administrative practice.
However, he said there was insufficient information to support the conclusion that the application was predetermined.
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