The third in a four‑part series exploring the acoustic implications of padel courts in the UK.
As padel continues its rapid expansion across the UK, questions around noise, planning, and regulatory expectations are becoming familiar territory for developers, consultants, and local authorities. Yet despite its growth, no UK‑specific acoustic standard currently exists for padel, and some planning officers are still encountering the sport for the first time.
This blog part three in our series provides a clear, authoritative overview of the standards, guidance, and decision‑making frameworks commonly encountered when assessing padel court planning applications. It also clarifies where existing tools fall short, why impact noise from padel is so difficult to characterise, and how acoustic consultants interpret available guidance in the absence of a bespoke national standard.
Part 1: Padel vs Tennis: Research into the Comparison of Noise
In acoustics, simplicity often drives consistency. Most UK standards attempt to distil noise into a single metric for comparison, usually an average noise level, such as LAeq (which is the average sound level). But padel does not behave like a steady sound source. Instead, it produces intermittent, impulsive impact noise with distinctive tonal qualities, combined with unpredictable short-duration noise from shouting.
Describing padel using only an average noise index is a little like describing a song purely by its loudness. The defining characteristics which describe the noise and therefore the overall impact of introducing this noise are lost.
For that reason, any robust Noise Impact Assessment (NIA) for a padel court will reference associated guidance, but ultimately must assess noise in the specific context of the site. Planning decisions will hinge far more on this contextual interpretation than on single‑number comparisons.
In planning, standards operate as rules—broad frameworks intended to apply across multiple sectors. Guidance, by contrast, provides sector‑specific advice and helps decision‑makers interpret standards appropriately.
Local authorities generally rely on a combination of both. Understanding how padel noise compares against existing benchmarks, however imperfect they may be, is essential for achieving a consistent planning outcome.
Broadly, yes. The UK government’s National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) encourages the development of sports infrastructure for health and wellbeing.
However, councils are becoming more cautious. As padel courts proliferate, some high‑profile refusals and subsequent media attention have heightened concern about impact noise disturbance. Increased scrutiny does not necessarily reflect anti‑padel sentiment, it reflects a lack of established research and benchmarks.
A number of standards may be referenced during a padel application, though their relevance varies.
BS 8233:2014 – Guidance on Sound Insulation and Noise Reduction for Buildings
BS 8233 sets out target noise environments inside and outside dwellings, including World
Health Organisation (WHO) derived noise limits for living spaces and gardens. These limits use LAeq, making them less suitable for padel, which is driven by impact noise rather than steady‑state levels.
Despite its limitations, BS 8233 is often the first point of comparison for local authorities, simply because it offers a benchmark for assessing residential amenity.
You may also like to read – BS8233 vs BS4142
This is where the challenge lies: no UK standard specifically addresses padel impact noise, especially during normal daytime playing hours.
BS 4142 is frequently suggested due to its ability to evaluate character, tonality, and impulsiveness (similar to impact noise). In theory, it seems a logical fit. In practice, BS 4142 was designed for industrial plant noise, not sporting activity and applying it directly to padel would stretch it beyond its intended scope.
CIEH Clay Pigeon Shooting Guidance (2003) is research that explored annoyance thresholds for impulsive gunshot noise. While interesting from as a benchmark for annoyance, it cannot be directly applied to padel. Clay shooting is typically hosted in different environments and annoyance is highly context dependent and influenced by personal attitudes toward the source.
LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) adopted padel in 2019, and they issued simple planning advice: if a court is within 30 metres of a building, mitigation may be required and an acoustic consultant should be engaged.
Sport England – AGP / MUGA Noise Guidance is predominantly used for more general sporting multi‑use games areas references BS 8233 and provides useful insight into acceptable changes in sound levels. While not padel‑specific, it includes analysis of impact‑based sports noise, particularly hockey.
It emphasises flexibility and contextual judgement of the sites, acknowledging there is a variety of different environments.
Sport Scotland has also published equivalent guidance to the Sports England Guidance which is slightly more prescriptive but follows similar principles.
The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) offers broader advice on acceptable noise increases, helpful where padel development forms part of a larger Environmental Impact Assessment.
In 2023, the Netherlands published padel‑specific noise criteria, recommending minimum 100m separation distances between courts and residences and defined noise limits. However, UK acousticians generally agree these values cannot be imported directly due to very different urban layouts and population densities.
The likelihood is it will be judged against BS 8233 in the first instance for continuous noise levels. After this, it’s up to the consultant to justify the noise levels, particularly the impact noise created by padel. They do this by considering the context of the site and presenting a case that it would have a minimal impact by linking in other guidance. This final stage inevitably contains subjective elements, but it is also where an experienced acoustic consultant will add real value.
If you are in the midst or at the start of planning a sports project that will or may need a noise impact solution, get in touch!
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.