Padel has exploded in popularity — and with that has come a very familiar planning issue: noise.
If you’re proposing new padel courts (or converting existing tennis courts), a padel court noise assessment for planning is often the document that decides whether the application runs smoothly or gets bogged down in objections, Environmental Health questions, and conditions.
This guide explains, in plain English, how padel noise is usually assessed, what measurements and modelling look like, and the mitigation measures that typically help secure approval.
Padel noise tends to stand out for three reasons:
Because of this, councils often treat padel as a higher-risk sport use when neighbours are nearby.
A padel court noise impact assessment is commonly required when:
Even where not formally requested, a robust assessment can be the difference between a calm determination and a long back-and-forth.
A good padel noise assessment should clearly address:
The strongest reports are those where the conclusions are easy for a planning officer to lift into their committee report.
There isn’t one single “padel standard” used everywhere in the UK, so the methodology needs to be carefully justified and built around what the council and EHO can rely on.
Most assessments use a combination of:
1) Baseline sound surveys
To understand the existing sound environment at nearby homes:
Why it matters: planners need to see how audible padel would be relative to what’s already there.
2) Characterising padel noise (source data)
This can be done by:
The aim is to quantify:
A key step is defining a reasonable worst case, for example:
3) Prediction/modelling to sensitive locations
Because you rarely measure at every neighbour location, assessments commonly use prediction techniques to estimate levels at:
This will also consider:
4) Assessment criteria and interpretation
This is where many reports fall down if they’re not clear.
Councils want you to:
The best NIAs keep this section readable and avoid hiding behind technical language.
A padel planning noise assessment usually includes measurements in two buckets:
A) Baseline measurements (existing environment)
Typically captured over:
These readings are used to set context and to support your planning narrative.
B) Padel sound measurements (activity source)
When measuring padel activity, the assessor will usually document:
They may also take:
The goal is to avoid cherry-picking and produce a dataset an EHO will accept as fair.
Mitigation generally falls into three types: design, physical measures, and operational controls. The most successful applications usually combine at least two.
1) Layout and design changes (often the biggest win)
Before spending money on barriers, it’s worth exploring:
This sort of “quiet design” approach is often persuasive because it reduces reliance on future management.
An “acoustic fence” is not just a tall fence.
For it to be effective, the design needs:
Sometimes a partial barrier is enough; other times, the geometry means you need a more comprehensive solution along the most sensitive boundary.
Depending on the system, you may have options such as:
The important thing is to avoid relying on marketing claims — planners prefer evidence.
This is where padel differs from many other outdoor sports: evening use is frequently the pinch point.
Typical controls that can satisfy an EHO include:
A good plan spells out who is responsible and what happens if complaints arise.
While lighting isn’t noise, floodlighting often drives:
Where lighting is included, it’s sensible to align lighting hours with the noise strategy so the planning “story” is consistent.
To keep planners onside, the report should include:
In short: make it easy for the planning officer to approve it.
Avoiding these is usually the difference between a straightforward determination and months of questions.
If your padel proposal is near homes, it’s usually best to commission the assessment early, while there’s still flexibility to adjust layout, add boundary measures, and set sensible hours that work for both the club and the community.
May Walters Acoustic Consultants (MW Acoustics) specialise in acoustics for padel and sporting facilities. In 2024 we undertook an independent programme of nearly 50 hours of measurements on padel and tennis courts to build a robust comparison dataset. The work maps how sound propagates from padel courts, characterises impact content and frequency, and highlights how patterns shift with player ability. The findings have been presented to the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and inform current training content. The dataset underpins a propagation model that supports reliable predictions for planning submissions in the UK.