Only a month after two padel courts in Dunnington near York were rejected, there is now another in a North Yorkshire town.
A retrospective planning application for the outdoor courts and social area already built at the David Lloyd gym in Oakdale Place in Harrogate had previously been rejected in September.
It was due to noise concerns and the impact on local ecology.
In a follow up application, the company proposed mitigation measures, including acoustic barriers and upgraded “asymmetric” lighting designed to reduce spill into the nearby Oak Beck wildlife corridor.
However, a North Yorkshire Council planning committee was not convinced the measures would reduce the disturbance.
Josie Caven, chair of the Harrogate and Knaresborough area planning committee, spoke out against the application at the meeting.
“While the proposal may provide physical and mental health benefits to its members, these are outweighed by the widespread harm to residential immunity, including noise, light pollution, and ecological disturbance.”
Committee member Peter Lacey said he accepted that the site of the padel courts was previously a tennis court.
“I like to think that tennis is more of a gentile sport that you can sort of cope with in the background. Padel is this percussive and very different noise.
The proposal has divided opinion in the community, with the council receiving 175 letters of support and 34 objections.
David Lloyd Clubs has been approached for comment but previously said it had placed voluntary restriction on the operational hours of the facility and carried out a noise assessment.
