Padel courts have been removed from plans for a major extension and refurbishment of Odd Down Sports Ground.
Previous plans for the Odd Down Sports Ground site | Image © B&NES Council
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s original plans for the site were turned down by its own planning committee over concerns about the noise of the four planned padel courts, which one councillor said would be like “Chinese water torture” for neighbours.
A revised planning application could be decided this month, including an extension to the pavilion for a gym, a mini cycle track, and better lighting for the 3G pitch, but no padel courts.
The planning application, submitted in September, stated: “We are concerned that resolving the padel matter may delay this process.
“We have therefore elected to withdraw the padel from this application. It is the intention that a separate application will be lodged for the addition of padel on the site in due course.”
There are no padel courts anywhere in Bath because the council refuses to grant planning permission for any, even when it is the council itself proposing the plans.
The planning committee makes its decisions based on planning policy, and when the council submits planning applications, it is treated like any other applicant.
Padel is a sport similar to squash but played with a solid racquet. Originally from Mexico, it has boomed in popularity since the Covid-19 lockdown and is one of the fastest-growing sports. But padel enthusiasts in Bath have to travel to Bristol or Corsham to play their sport.
60 members of the Lansdown Tennis Club make regular trips to Bristol to play padel, but when the club applied for planning permission for two padel courts last year, the planning committee said the “gunfire-like” noise of the game would harm neighbours’ mental health and turned the plans down.
One councillor warned the noise would be close to meeting the World Health Organisation definition of “seriously annoying”.
The club appealed the decision, but the Planning Inspectorate said the council had made the right decision.
Planning inspector Andrew Boughton said the sport had “noisier volleys and a faster cadence of ball impact compared to lawn tennis”, and that neighbours would be sensitive to even a minor change in noise levels.
You can view the planning application for the Odd Down Sports Ground here.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
