Four Oaks Padel open for business

We were delighted to have been invited to the grand opening of 2 new floodlit padel courts at Four Oaks Tennis and Padel Club in Sutton Coldfield.

The event, which included a thrilling exhibition padel match, was attended by Roy Colabawalla, the Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) Deputy President, who in a speech stressed the difficulty many Clubs are experiencing in obtaining planning permission for padel, with some ‘stuck in planning for 4 years’. He praised Tyler Parkes for their ‘incredible work’ in securing the planning permission and suggested that the Club’s experience be used as a pilot study nationally.

Gail Collins, one of our planning Directors, was given a shout out by the Club for her support in securing the planning permission for the new courts. She told the gathered crowd that the key to securing planning permission for padel is to provide a robust planning application covering all aspects of a proposal through submitting specialist reports, and having a close working relationship with Council planners as many may not be familiar with the sport. The Club also worked closely with their neighbours to ensure any concerns could be dealt with in the scheme’s detailing.  In the case of Four Oaks, which lies within a Conservation Area and is surrounded by residential properties, Tyler Parkes provided all planning and architectural support, and the planning application was approved as submitted.

Padel tennis is renowned as one of the fastest growing sports in the world. It is derived from lawn tennis and has been played globally since the 1960s. Padel is typically played in doubles on an enclosed court a third the size of a tennis court. Scoring is similar to traditional tennis and the ball is similar but with a little less pressure. The main difference is that the court has a surrounding enclosure that the ball can be played off, in a similar way as in the game of squash, using specially designed paddles. The Lawn Tennis Association forecasts there will be 1,000 courts in the UK and 600,000 players in 3 years’ time.

Why not give padel a go! https://www.lta.org.uk/play/ways-to-play/padel/