Hugh Raymond has lost his LTA job because of the cuts

The Lawn Tennis Association insists it will continue to invest in the sport on the Channel Islands despite cutting some funding.

The branch office at Les Ormes in Jersey has closed because of the cuts, said to be in the region of £60,000.

Channel Islands development officer Hugh Raymond will continue parts of his role on a voluntary basis.

He told BBC Radio Jersey: "We've lost our administrator, our office and in fact the development officer job."

The move means much of the administration of tennis in Jersey and Guernsey will now be overseen from the UK.

But the LTA have not cut player funding so the Channel Islands can still continue to run as a county team.

"It's going to be a big learning curve for all of us in the sense that we won't now have an officer, fully paid, on the ground," Raymond added.

"For the meantime I just want to see how it goes. We've built up such a good reputation within tennis and that's why I want to stay on in almost a volunteer capacity.

"We've got to look forward, it's no good looking back. I think we have to be positive about it - they've made their decisions."

In a statement, the LTA said: "We continue to support the great work being done by clubs and volunteers there to help more people play tennis."

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