Plans to create padel tennis courts on abandoned land in Walton

Plans have been submitted to Warrington Borough Council to create five padel tennis courts and canopies, as well as a customer kiosk, outdoor social area, groundsman store and car and cycle parking.

Applicant Pure Padel Clubs has submitted the plans for land at Warrington Sports Club, on Walton Lea Road in Walton.

This would be a redevelopment of the disused tennis courts area, with Warrington Sports Club ending their use in 2021 due to declining interest and the courts being uneconomical to maintain.

As an alternative, better all-weather floodlit tennis facilities are available at Grappenhall Village Lawn Tennis Club within three miles of Warrington Sports Club.

Padel is a racquet sport similar to tennis and squash. The court is a third of the size of a tennis court, surrounded by walls of glass and metallic mesh.

Planning documents say padel is ‘rapidly expanding’ across Europe, and that the Lawn Tennis Association has ‘ambitious plans to grow padel across Great Britain over the coming years’.

The Warrington Pure Padel site would ‘provide first-class coaching’, with all coaches having undergone specialist training in Spain, which is the birthplace of the sport.

The existing abandoned tennis courts at Warrington Sports Club

Users would be able to have either private or public coaching sessions, while there would also be a junior development programme, women-only sessions and sessions for older people.

A small kiosk would be present with a permanent member of staff to issue and store equipment, as well as provide food and beverages.

In terms of employment, the facility would create new jobs including a full-time head coach, part-time support coaches and a part-time site manager.

Pure Padel would undertake the proposed works, if approved, and operate the facility independently of Warrington Sports Club.

The model does not involve any membership fees, with booking secured through a smartphone app or online booking, with proposed opening hours being 7am to 10pm, Monday to Sunday.

Planning documents state: “The proposals are brought forward in the context of sustained lower than anticipated demand for the traditional tennis game at Warrington Sports Club.

“With a significant demand for padel, both nationally and in the catchment area of the site, the repurposing of this site is wholly acceptable.

“Pure Padel believes that the introduction of padel at this specific site will have a significantly beneficial effect in driving up patronage and visitor numbers to Warrington Sports Club, and help to ensure that the leisure facilities at the site as an overall package can become more sustainable.”