Ilkley club wins approval for four new padel courts, major overhaul

Bradford Council approved plans for four outdoor floodlit padel courts at Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club, with two of the courts covered, alongside groundworks and a re-configuration of grass tennis courts. The move gives one of Yorkshire’s long-established rackets venues a bigger padel footprint and turns a side offering into a central part of the club’s next phase.

The club, founded in 1880, sits in the Wharfe valley with panoramic views of Ilkley Moor, a setting that has long made it one of the area’s best-known tennis addresses. That heritage now has to accommodate a different kind of demand. The approval adds dedicated padel capacity to a site already used for major tennis events, including the Lexus Ilkley Trophy, which Club Insure describes as the largest tennis tournament in the North of England and which stages ATP Challenger and ITF women’s events.

The planning file, 25/04725/MAF, covers more than just new courts. It also includes the groundworks needed to support them and the reshaping of existing grass tennis space, a clear sign that the club is not simply bolting padel on at the edge of the site. The club has already signaled that shift publicly through a page titled “Padel ready for play,” while STRI Group says its work with the club has covered futureproof planning, environmental planning, masterplanning, sports facility design, structural design, sports construction, technical consulting, event support and environment and social work.

The approval lands against a broader squeeze on court supply in Bradford. A BBC report said almost 50 new padel courts are needed to meet demand in the district, and a local article had already pointed to four new courts in Ilkley as the sport continued to grow. In practical terms, that means more access for players who have struggled to book time, and a stronger case for established tennis clubs to treat padel as a core growth engine rather than a temporary add-on.

The expansion has also drawn scrutiny from walkers and neighbors before. The Dales Way Association said earlier plans to expand the club, including a new car park in an adjoining field, raised concern because the Dales Way follows the club access road and traffic was already a worry. Even so, the latest approval pushes Ilkley further toward the model now taking shape at traditional UK racquet clubs: fewer assumptions that tennis alone can carry the site, and more investment in padel as the sport driving the next wave of members, bookings and revenue.