Powerleague Paisley wins approval for three more padel courts

Renfrewshire Council has approved three more padel courts at Powerleague Paisley, subject to conditions, taking the Blackhall Street club to seven courts in total. The expansion builds on the four courts already in place and gives the site its first singles court.

The new scheme at Anchor Grounds will add three courts west of the existing padel area, along with court enclosure, lighting and a canopy for year-round use. Two of the courts will be doubles courts and one will be for singles, with a replacement synthetic playing surface, clear glazed panels, mesh fencing and new floodlights included in the plan. The development will take up space equivalent to one outdoor five-a-side pitch on part of an existing seven-a-side football pitch, while also creating a new five-a-side pitch and moving the current seven-a-side pitch to the north-west corner of the site.

The application was submitted in April 2026 by Glasgow-based North Planning and Development on behalf of Powerleague Fives Ltd. Powerleague’s Paisley club first opened in 1987, and the latest approval extends a padel offer that launched on the site in July 2025.

Paisley is one of three Scottish sites in Powerleague’s £2.2 million rollout, with 11 new courts planned across Paisley, Portobello and Sighthill in Edinburgh by the end of 2025, as part of a wider £14 million UK programme. When the original courts opened, the company said the Paisley club already welcomed more than 2,200 football players each week and that padel sessions were available from as little as £7 per person through the Playtomic app.

Tennis Scotland backed the earlier Paisley proposal, calling padel the fastest-growing sport in Europe and pointing to Scotland’s 41 padel venues at the time. The Lawn Tennis Association put British padel participation at 6,000 annual players in 2019 and 129,000 by 2024, while court numbers climbed from 50 to 350. By May 2026, the LTA counted 1,000,000 padel players, 1,825 courts and 551 venues in Britain.