Planners Recommend Green Light for More Padel Courts |
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Rocks Lane centre converting more of its space for use for the sport
September 17, 2023 More padel courts are set to be built at the Rocks Lane Multi-sports Centre at Chiswick Back Common after council planners recommended that an application be approved. Permission was being sought for the installation of one padel tennis court and one training/junior padel tennis court at the western end of the site. It was argued that the ‘irregular sized’ multi-use court that occupies the area along with ancillary land was infrequently used. There has been some controversy over the expansion of padel, a racquet sport similar to tennis, with some parents claiming that groups playing team sports such as football and netball being squeezed out. The site currently has six outdoor floodlit padel tennis courts, granted planning permission in 2020 and 2021 and 4 covered padel tennis courts which were approved a year later. The centre says that the existing padel courts attracted have attracted over 7500 players over
There were 41 submissions relating to the applications of which the majority were in favour. Reasons given by the 13 objectors included the loss of diversity of sports, padel being ‘more noisy’ and difficulties in parking and extra road traffic in the area. Cllr Jo Biddolph raised additional concerns about the change in the balance of the use of space with fewer families using it while the proportion of adults has increased. This, she argues, has increased noise levels and parking issues in the evening. The planners said that the council did not have the power to control the types of sport played at the site and they did not believe that the proposed structures would harm neighbours or increase the intensity of use of the site.
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