Alderley Edge padel court plan recommended for approval amid backlash

Alderley Edge Cricket Club’s plan for two padel courts has been recommended for approval, but the decision has landed in the middle of a sharp local backlash over noise, floodlights and the look of the site. The scheme, trimmed from three courts to two after talks with Cheshire East Council, now sits at the center of one of the clearest tests yet of how Britain’s padel boom will be negotiated street by street.

Application 24/5182/FUL would convert one existing tennis court at the Moss Lane club into padel courts, with new floodlighting, a pedestrian access route, a 3.2m-high acoustic fence, landscaping and other associated works. The planning officer’s report said the courts would be about 130m from Mottram Road, while the nearest homes on Moss Lane would be about 25m away. The proposed fence would stand about 14m from the nearest dwelling, and hedge planting is intended to soften both the noise and the visual impact.

The application was called in for committee debate by ward councillor Craig Browne, an Independent, who said the proposal was highly controversial locally and deserved public discussion at the northern planning committee. That call brought the issue out of the planning office and into a more political arena, where the club’s case for growth met a broader argument about what kind of development padel brings when it arrives in established residential areas.

The opposition has been substantial. Seventy-three residents wrote to Cheshire East Council, with 49 objecting and 24 backing the plan. Alderley Edge Parish Council has also objected, pointing to noise, floodlighting and the effect on the nearby Alderley Edge conservation area. Residents on Moss Lane have said the courts would be close enough to homes to make life unbearable, a warning that reflects the wider tension now following the sport as it expands beyond its first wave of purpose-built venues.

The club’s counterargument is financial and practical. It says membership is falling and that padel would improve the club’s vitality and long-term viability. That pitch has extra force in a sport that is still building out its footprint at speed. The Lawn Tennis Association says padel courts in Great Britain rose from 68 in 2019 to 763 by the end of 2024, while more than 400,000 adults and juniors played at least once last year. Britain then reached 1,000 courts in July 2025, and the International Padel Federation now says the sport has more than 63,000 courts across about 130 countries. Alderley Edge could become a template for the next phase of that expansion, where demand no longer outruns scrutiny.