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02
Nov
David Lloyd wins padel court planning battle in Harrogate
A government planning inspector has approved plans for two padel courts in Harrogate after an appeal.
David Lloyd Clubs built the courts on the site of a former tennis court and social area without planning permission at its club on Oakdale Place.
Nearby residents likened the sound of balls being hit to gunshots and said the noise reverberated around Oak Beck valley.
David Lloyd lodged fresh plans for the courts in February after a previous retrospective planning application was refused.
However, councillors on North Yorkshire Council's Harrogate and Knaresborough area planning committee refused the plan in April against officer recommendations.
David Lloyd Clubs in Harrogate.
Now, the plans have been given the go-ahead after David Lloyd took the council’s decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate — which deals with planning disputes.
In its statement to the inspector, the club said the council had failed to explain why its planning committee went against its own officer recommendations to reject the plan.
It added that the authority had provided no evidence to “dispute the findings of the noise assessment or the adequacy of the mitigation measures agreed”.
Meanwhile, North Yorkshire Council defended its decision to the refuse the plans in a statement to the planning inspector.
The authority said its decision was based on “negative impacts on residential amenity” caused by “cumulative impact of noise resulting from rackets striking balls and rebounding from the glass enclosure as well as social activity”.
In a decision notice, DM Young, a government planning inspector, said the council had not “provided an alternative acoustic assessment reaching materially different conclusions” to David Lloyd.
The inspector added that the council’s concerns “principally reflect the judgement of the planning committee as to the effects on neighbouring living conditions”.
They added:
I acknowledge the concerns of members and local residents and have taken them into account.
Nevertheless, in assessing the likely effects of the proposal, I attach greater weight to the empirical and technical evidence before me, which has not been rebutted by substantive technical evidence, than to assertions of harm, however genuinely held.
The site of the padel courts at David Lloyd in Harrogate.
'Continuous noise'
The move comes after council officers recommended that the latest plans be approved at a meeting on April 28.
Lisa Alder, case officer at the council, said the proposal had been revised to ensure it would not result in “unacceptable harm” and included measures such as acoustic barriers.
The council’s environmental health officer also recommended that the courts should only be used between 8am and 8pm from Monday to Saturday and between 9am and 7pm on Sundays and public holidays.
David Lloyd had already been using the courts, but stopped last year amid the noise concerns.
However, objectors claimed the courts had led to a “loss of the peaceful enjoyment of homes and gardens” as they were forced to “close their windows to relax”.
The complaints saw the council step in and issue an enforcement notice in October 2025, which ordered David Lloyd to cease all use of the facilities.
Meanwhile, Patrick Fitzgerald, chairman of the Oak Beck Valley Residents Association, told councillors that residents would have to “tolerate this continuous noise” for seven days a week.
He added that the fencing proposed at the site would be unable to reduce the noise caused by people playing padel matches.
Councillors voted unanimously to refuse the plan on the grounds that local residents would be “negatively impacted” by the noise generated from the site.
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