The council has vetoed plans to convert a Bath tennis court into padel courts because they are concerned that the noise from the racquets will be too loud for the nearby residents’ mental health.
Similar to squash, but played with a solid racquet, is padel. It originated in Mexico and is today one of the fastest growing sports. However, Bath is currently lacking a place to play this sport, despite its sudden rise in popularity following the Covid-19 shutdown.
According to the Lansdown Tennis, Squash and Croquet Club, sixty of its members routinely drive from Bath to Bristol to play the game. But Bath and North East Somerset Council rejected a planning proposal last week to build two padel courts at the club.
Two padel courts and a miniature tennis court were to have taken the place of one of the club’s eleven tennis courts. The closest dwelling would have been only 3.5 meters away from the padel courts, which would have been encircled by 3 m high glazed glass to reduce noise.
On July 31, Tessa Hampton of Context Planning spoke on behalf of the neighbors before the council’s planning committee: “Padel tennis produces a lot more noise and disruption than tennis because of the hard bats and pressurized balls that bounce off the court walls all the time.”
