Tennis enthusiasts who have attempted to use the tennis courts at the former US base have been disappointed to find them in shambles.

A woman, who wrote to said she and her husband enjoyed the accessibility of the courts but were upset to find that the courts were virtually unusable.

?The Kindley tennis courts are great ? what a lovely gift for Bermuda ? but they are in desperate need of a ?clean up on aisle four?, literally: the last court is unplayable, with old lights, trash, several old bikes, etc. pushed up in the corners of the court,? wrote the woman who did not wish to be named.

She said there was broken glass on the court that especially worried her because of the amount of children that play in the area.

She added that the derelict building in front of the tennis court, the former Bachelor Officer?s Quarters, has also been left derelict when it could be repaired and turned into affordable housing.

?What a travesty to let these buildings literally fall down around our feet. How incredibly arrogant of our Government to just let these buildings crumble while members of our community are living rough, in their cars and tents,? she wrote.

The courts, which are the responsibility of the Department of Youth and Sport, should have been locked and the St. George?s Community School has been given the key, said sports advisor Philip Guishard.

He said he was surprised to find that the tennis courts were unlocked when he went to check on them this weekend.

?This weekend I was down there and I was a little taken aback because of the vandalism. There was not enough revenue coming from the courts so we had to close (them) but we have given a key to the St. George?s Community School,? he said.

Mr. Guishard said court four has been unplayable even after superficial work was done to all of the courts. He said there was also still some debris left from Hurricane Fabian. But he said he was under the impression that the Community School use the courts every Sunday.

?We are sorting out the repairs now and on the brink of getting them done,? he said.

Lights and the vault switch, which has been left unlocked as well, would also have to be repaired.

?It was never the intention to always have it open, the Community School has a key but people will have to call us if they have ever wanted to use the courts,? he added.

The buildings, though, are the responsibility of the Bermuda Land Development Company and are currently being used.

?Currently the top floor is used to house Police officers. The other building is a transition house for the Bermuda Housing Corporation,? said BLDC media relations officer Richard Calderon.

He added that the long term goal for the buildings was to tear the existing buildings down and put up additional housing.

?We intend to move the tenants into their own separate building on another portion of land down here,? he explained.

He said that the cost to rehabilitate the buildings would be more than to tear them down and start again.