Hamptworth padel courts face demolition after New Forest appeal
Hamptworth Golf and Country Club is fighting to keep its new padel courts after the New Forest National Park Authority refused retrospective permission and an enforcement notice ordered the structures removed if the appeal fails. The case has become a sharp warning for padel operators: in sensitive landscapes, building first and asking later can turn a growth story into a demolition fight.
Work on the site began on 14 June 2025 and brought a 37-metre-wide indoor building, four outdoor courts and 6.2-metre-high floodlights to land north of the main clubhouse. Planning officers called the scheme “visually intrusive” and said it harmed the national park’s character and tranquillity, a view that carried real weight in a place where landscape protection is not a background issue but the main event.
The objections were detailed and local, not abstract. Landford Parish Council opposed the project on the grounds that it would damage the special qualities of the national park, while six letters of objection raised flooding, drainage works affecting the River Blackwater, protected bat species and the scale of the development. Neighbours also complained about light pollution from the tall floodlights, which is exactly the kind of issue that can make evening padel difficult to site in residential or protected areas.
Hamptworth’s appeal now sits with the Planning Inspectorate, and members of the public can comment until 20 July. The club argues the courts are part of a broader business rather than a standalone leisure gamble, saying Hamptworth has historically offered racket sports alongside a café and restaurant open to the public. It says the club, bought by Ashkin Mittal in 2020, employs 24 people and needs the new facilities to secure its long-term viability.
That is the bigger takeaway for padel investors and club owners. Demand may be rising fast, but the planning bar is rising too, especially in national park settings where lighting, ecology, drainage and visual impact can all stop a project in its tracks. Hamptworth replaced former tennis courts, and the club says public views of the development are limited, but if the appeal fails the enforcement notice could still force the courts out and the site back to its previous condition. In padel, getting the location right now matters as much as getting the build done.