Padel Court Planning Permission: Noise, Floodlighting and the Green Belt

Do padel courts need planning permission?

Almost always. A padel court is about 20 metres by 10 metres, enclosed by glass walls and mesh fencing around 3 to 4 metres high, and usually floodlit. Building one involves engineering and building operations, and opening courts to members or the public may also be a change of use. Covered courts with a canopy or roof are larger buildings again.

A private court in a domestic garden may, in limited cases, fall within householder permitted development for outbuildings and enclosures, but the height of standard enclosures, the floodlighting and the size of the court usually take it outside those limits. If you think it might be permitted development, apply for a lawful development certificate before you build.

Noise is the issue that decides most applications

Padel is noisier than tennis in a particular way. The sound of the ball hitting solid rackets and glass walls is impulsive and repetitive, and it carries. Councils' environmental health officers increasingly treat padel as a different noise source from tennis, and several recent schemes have been refused on noise grounds:

• Harrogate, 2026Councillors refused a retrospective application for two courts at a health club in April 2026, against their officers' recommendation, despite proposed acoustic barriers. Members were concerned about peak (LAmax) noise rather than average levels, and about evening play.
• LeedsFloodlit courts at a garden centre were refused because, without a site-specific noise assessment, the council could not determine whether the impact would be acceptable.
• Redditch, 2026Members refused a scheme after judging the proposed acoustic fencing inadequate and raising concern about early and late hours.

What a good noise case looks like

There is currently no UK planning standard specific to padel noise, and councils take different approaches. That makes a well-scoped acoustic assessment, agreed with environmental health before it is commissioned, essential. It should normally:

• Measure the right thingAssess peak ball-impact noise (LAmax) and the number of events, not just average levels over an hour, and include players' voices.
• Use the real settingMeasure existing background noise at the nearest homes and gardens, at the times the courts will be used.
• Design mitigation inDistance from homes, court orientation, solid acoustic barriers, landscaping and, where justified, a canopy or enclosure. Mitigation added after refusal is harder to sell.
• Offer controlsRealistic hours (councils have suggested limits such as 8am to 8pm on weekdays and Saturdays with shorter hours on Sundays), booking-system controls and no amplified music.

Floodlighting, ecology and parking

• LightingA lighting assessment should show light spill, glare and sky glow, with a switch-off time. Lighting near hedgerows, trees and water can affect bats and may need ecological survey.
• Biodiversity Net GainCourts built on grass or other habitat will normally need to deliver mandatory 10% biodiversity net gain unless an exemption applies.
• Parking and accessFour players per court changing every hour can add up. Show where they will park, especially at clubs and garden centres that already have busy car parks.
• DrainageCourts are hard surfaces. Show where surface water will go.

Padel courts in the Green Belt

Under the National Planning Policy Framework (August 2026), appropriate facilities for outdoor sport and recreation, including buildings, and material changes of use for outdoor sport or recreation, are not inappropriate in the Green Belt, provided the impact on openness is minimised and there is no significant conflict with Green Belt purposes (Policy GB7). Open-air courts at an existing sports club, golf club or leisure site are therefore often acceptable in principle.

The detail still matters. Glass enclosures, fencing and floodlight columns have a visual effect on openness, and a canopy or full roof is much harder to justify. Locating courts next to existing buildings, and keeping lighting columns low, helps. The same tests apply to other outdoor sport facilities, from stables to pump tracks.

Replacing tennis courts or playing fields

Many clubs convert under-used tennis courts to padel. Where the site is, or was recently, a playing field, Sport England is a statutory consultee and will apply its playing fields policy. It has supported padel schemes where the benefit to sport outweighs the loss of tennis courts, but it and the Lawn Tennis Association may object if the loss of tennis provision is not justified. Local plan policies protecting sports facilities also apply.

Don't build first

Some of the most contentious cases started with courts built without permission, followed by complaints, enforcement action and a retrospective application decided in a hostile atmosphere. With courts costing tens of thousands of pounds each, the cost of an acoustic assessment and a properly prepared application is small by comparison.