We have many clients who are tennis clubs who were looking to drive new membership and extra revenue by installing padel courts, most of these have been highly successful courts. But with the surge in padel development applications are becoming more complex and more scrutinised as local authorities catch up with defining processes.
If you are adding padel courts or upgrading an existing tennis facility, success now hinges on preparation. There are a number of potential obstacles you should be aware of, particularly around noise, lighting, and community impact, and early consideration of these will define the success of your application.
Most padel developments require planning permission, particularly where proposals include floodlighting, new courts, fencing, or public use.
A robust application should include the following:
Core Planning Documents
Technical Assessments (increasingly required early in the process, ask for advice on each)
From which local authorities typically assess:
Pre-Application Strategy (critical)
Many delays occur because applications are submitted without sufficient supporting evidence, triggering requests for additional information.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) provides recognised guidance for tennis and padel development, often referenced in planning decisions.
Key principles include:
• Use specialist designers and consultants
• Ensure designs meet industry standards and planning requirements
• Consider impact on the local environment and nearby receptors
Importantly, LTA-supported standards (via SAPCA codes) emphasise:
• Site-specific design
• Integration of lighting and enclosure with planning considerations
• Early-stage planning and feasibility assessment
In practice, citing LTA guidance strengthens applications by aligning proposals with national governing body expectations.
Floodlighting is one of the risk elements in tennis club and padel applications alike. In almost all cases, planning permission is required.
Core planning requirements can include:
1. Lighting Design Report
2. Light Spill & Impact Assessment
3. Environmental & Ecology Considerations
4. Visual Impact & Mast Design
5. Operating Hours
Councils assess floodlighting holistically—not just brightness, but overall environmental impact.
Noise is now one of the most common reasons for padel planning objections, delays, and appeals. Its importance is reflected in the huge increase in web search demands for: ‘padel court noise’, ‘padel noise assessment’ and ‘padel planning permission noise’.
Padel generates a distinctive acoustic profile:
Because of this, padel noise is often perceived as more intrusive than tennis and is scrutinised closely, particularly if it may have effects on local wildlife and residences (which is often the case with tennis clubs).
From a planning perspective, LPAs are increasingly asking for Noise Impact Assessments (NIA) in all circumstances, even for indoor courts, but particularly where courts are close to residential receptors.
But also we speak to many clubs who are interested in an early NIA to help reassure the neighbours who may be increasingly concerned about padel due to negative press coverage about noise.
Assessments usually compare predicted padel noise against existing background levels, often using methodologies adapted from other sports or impact-based activities.
Importantly:
The most common reasons for delay or refusal include:
These risks can be mitigated by:
Final Thought: Winning Padel Applications in 2026
Padel is a major growth opportunity for tennis clubs, we have many clients who have managed to have their investment returned in about 12 months from a double court installation, whilst adding to the culture of their club. However, planning is now increasingly the barrier to delivery.
Successful applications are no longer just about design—they require:
Those who treat padel planning as a multi-disciplinary process, not a simple sports upgrade, will be the ones who secure consent fastest.
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.