Casual squash players fear they will be locked out of courts at the new sports centre in Lyneham, managed by Next Gen health club, saying the new pricing structure is too expensive.
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Tennis ACT, whose $860,000 payout for changing its lease to allow development at the old Lyneham site was waived by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, then leased half of the land to Next Gen health club.
Next Gen's new redeveloped "super gym" replaces the old squash courts with new ones they manage, with a pricing structure that will not allow casual hourly squash court hire.
Instead they will offer day passes with access to all the club's facilities, other than the premium spa area, for $60 per person for non-members and $35 for guests of members, which will also apply to access to the two new pools.
"If someone is not a member of Next Gen they can get access to all of the facilities of the club for the whole day if they are with a member for $35 of if they are not with a member for $60," Next Gen general manager Tony Frazer confirmed.
Members of the public used to be able to access the Lyneham squash courts for $24 an hour.
Chritine Butterfield, of Downer, said she was horrified by the new prices, which would be "prohibitive" for her daughter and nephews who used to play squash regularly at the old site.
"I am concerned that facilities were previously available to the general public will now be available only to members, and casual visits will be discouraged by prohibitive casual rates," she said.
As a keen swimmer, Ms Butterfield is also disappointed it will cost her $60 for a few casual laps, considering some of Canberra's indoor pools are facing an uncertain future.
Ms Butterfield said ratepayers should be concerned that despite contributing to the facility, it would not be as accessible.
"Why did the government contribute to enable Next Gen to convert a formerly public facility into a very private one?" she said.
While Sports Minister Shane Rattenbury said the ACT government was not involved in the deal with Next Gen, he defended Tennis ACT's alignment with the company.
"As the premier tennis centre facility in the region, the Canberra Tennis Centre will provide access for community tennis, athlete development and higher levels of competition events.
"By aligning with Next Gen, Tennis ACT now has secure, ongoing funding to support the development of the sport in Canberra and maintain the facility," he said.
Mr Rattenbury said the new Canberra Tennis Centre would allow higher levels of competitive tennis to come to Canberra, and community access will remain.
"Casual and community access to tennis facilities will remain available, but pricing is a responsibility of Tennis ACT," he said.
Tennis ACT head Ross Triffitt said that while he did not speak on behalf of Next Gen, there were other squash courts in Dickson and at the University of Canberra.
"The focus has been in this process on providing good community access. Isn't it better they have remained there at all?" he said.
Mr Triffitt said there had been a "significant amount of community consultation" in the process, and all Canberrans will benefit economically from attracting big tennis competitions to the capital.
Next Gen general manager Tony Frazer was asked whether the prices were reasonable, and responded saying it was a "private members club" with "state of the art facilities".
"Membership starts from just $24 per week," he said.
The ACT government contributed $7.15 million to the new tennis facilities managed by Tennis ACT next door.
Mr Triffitt said while access to the new tennis courts is through the Next Gen foyer, the courts were available to the public at a cost comparable and sometimes cheaper than they were before.
