A town council has objected to plans to turn ‘unused’ tennis courts into a ‘loud and expensive’ padel tennis area, describing it as ‘unneighbourly’.

A private developer applied for permission to build two courts for the popular high-impact sport, which involves balls bouncing off metallic mesh walls and fibreglass rackets, at the beginning of the year.

Plans for the new sporting space to replace two “unused” tennis courts at the Gerrards Cross Memorial Centre were supported by the town’s community association – but garnered instant backlash for a potentially destructive impact on the centre’s allotment site.

Developer Satvinder Roopra consequently withdrew the planning application in June before resubmitting it last month, scrapping the plans to get rid of allotments and citing new noise and light impact assessments to help bolster the case.

These studies have not been enough to reassure those living nearby at Marsham Lodge, Mill Lane or St Michael’s Convent, however – and local town councillors have now joined the chorus of dissent against the ‘unneighbourly’ development plans.

Following a well-attended planning committee meeting on Monday, October 21, the council formally objected to the padel court plans, citing its “unneighbourly” nature and “extensive opening hours” – from 8am to 8pm daily – among the reasons for taking a stand.

They also acknowledged local concern about “sound and highways pollution” and asked Buckinghamshire Council to call the new plans in for a committee decision.

Sarah Williams, 52, who lives next door to the community centre at Marsham Lodge, previously told this newspaper that she thought the courts were “the right thing in the wrong place” – suggesting that some level of intrusion was inevitable when the space was “seven metres away from our homes”.

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She also criticised the Gerrards Cross Community Association’s stance on the project – which she said wasn’t “fulfilling its role as a community charity” by taking member’s 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 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.”

The new application for padel courts in the town centre argues that the “increasingly popular” pastime would be “a modern and attractive sporting option” and help to boost footfall, as opposed to the fenced-off tennis courts which are “in a state of disrepair”.

The Gerrards Cross Community Association declined a request for comment.