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21
Jan
Harrogate set to get new padel courts
Harrogate Sports And Fitness Club looks set to be given the go-ahead to build two new padel courts.
North Yorkshire Council has recommended councillors on its Harrogate and Knaresborough planning committee approve the plans at a meeting next week.
It has also urged councillors to permit use of a grassed area to the west of the existing car park to form event parking for up to 80 days of the year.
The padel courts will be built next to trees alongside Hookstone Woods, which is a local nature reserve.
The scheme, which was resubmitted after previous plans were withdrawn, received 66 letters of support and 29 objections during consultation.
Supporters emphasised the health benefits of padel and said the existing courts on site were oversubscribed.
Objectors said the courts should be situated next to the two existing ones and raised concerns about noise and light pollution, including on the nature reserve.
Harrogate and District Cycle Action said it supported the padel courts but objected to the parking application because it would impact part of the Harrogate cycle network.
But council case officer Emma Walsh said in her report, which you can read here:
The proposal is considered to relate acceptably to the existing sport and recreation facilities, is considered to have an acceptable landscape, highways and amenity impact, subject to conditions.
As such, the proposal accords with Local Plan policy HP7 for the creation of new sports and recreational facilities and is acceptable in principle. The provision of temporary parking for the Yorkshire showground on a formalised basis up to 80 days per year is acceptable as a minor development which can be restricted in use by 20 condition, on consideration of its informal existing use for event days under the existing car parking management plan.
'Failing' club now thriving
A planning statement, submitted in support of the application, highlighted how the club's fortunes have been transformed over the last decade.
It described the club as a “failing sports and leisure facility, turning over £185,000 and losing approximately £5,000 and with a number of creditors” in 2015.
Membership stood at 280, the building was cold and damp and the gym was “very poor”, it added.
By contrast, the club now has more than 1,000 members, generates turnover of £750,000 and makes profits of over £175,000.
The club, which is registered as a community amateur sports club, applied to use the new courts from 7am to 10pm Monday to Friday and friom 8am to 9pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Ms Walsh's report lists 17 conditions associated with planning approval. They include work commencing within three years and development of a construction management plan.
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