A developer has reapplied for permission to turn ‘unused’ tennis courts into a padel tennis area despite fears from Gerrards Cross locals that it would ‘invade’ their daily life.

Satvinder Roopra first attempted to build courts for the popular high-impact tennis variant at the beginning of the year.

The initial plans would have seen seven allotment holders at the Gerrards Cross Memorial Centre evicted from their plots – and the resultant backlash forced Mr Roopra to withdraw the application in June, with president of the Gerrards Cross Community Association Tony Aston telling this newspaper it would be resubmitted after taking the “negative reaction” into account.

And the proposals were once again put before Buckinghamshire Council in late September, scrapping the plans to get rid of allotments at the centre and citing new noise and light impact assessments.

Sarah Williams, 52, who lives next door to the centre at Marsham Lodge, previously said she and other neighbours were worried about disturbance from the sport, which produces a louder noise than tennis because of the racket material and the impact of the ball against the glass cage encircling the padel court.

Sarah said the new application hadn’t swayed her opinion that the plans were “the right thing in the wrong place” because of their closeness to residential areas on three sides – with Mill Lane and St Michael’s Convent also bordering the development site.

She also said she wasn’t convinced by new findings that the courts would not amplify sound levels in the area or “give rise to obtrusive light” – arguing that some degree of disruption was inevitable when the space was "seven metres away from our homes". 

Locals also objected to the appearance of the proposed padel area – which would be three metres high with bright blue turf and perimeter walls of tempered glass and electro-welded wire mesh.

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However, Sarah said the most frustrating part of the ongoing saga is the involvement of the Gerrards Cross Community Association with the development plans – who she said “aren’t fulfilling their role as a community charity” by taking member concerns into account.

“They say they’re supporting the padel courts because they can’t afford to refurbish the tennis courts that are already there – but there are so many things they could do instead of letting a developer build these loud and expensive courts in their place.

“As Gerrards Cross residents, we want the memorial centre to thrive, and that space could be a community garden or a hard-standing for a market – we’ve made all these suggestions, but they just don’t want to hear it.”

Many of Sarah's Marsham Lodge neighbours are in their eighties and nineties and have, she said, become “upset” and put under strain by the back-and-forth nature of the padel court plans.

“They just want to be able to sit in their gardens peacefully – but they’re living on their nerves at the moment. They feel like their homes are being invaded and there’s nothing they can do.”

The application for the new sporting space described the current tennis courts were “in a state of disrepair” rendering them unusable – pointing to padel as an “increasingly popular” pastime which would “enhance the community centre and provide a modern and attractive sporting option” in the Gerrards Cross area.