An award-winning actor has criticised ‘intolerable’ plans to build a new ‘sports complex’ near his home in Gerrards Cross.

Robert Lindsay, best known for his roles in My Family and Sherwood, has asked Buckinghamshire Council asking it to refuse plans for padel tennis courts at the Gerrards Cross Memorial Centre.

The proposal, which would see a ‘dilapidated’ tennis court space replaced by a brightly coloured ‘sports complex’ with metallic mesh walls’, has proved unpopular with neighbours – who are especially worried about its seven-day-a-week opening hours which would provide “no escape” from supposed noise and light impact.

And Mr Lindsay, who has lived in Gerrards Cross for three years, is among the concerned parties, telling the local planning authority that the new “sports complex” risked making life in the “tranquil” town “intolerable” for him and his neighbours.

Describing the memorial centre as a “community hub”, he said: “There are so many sports complexes in the Gerrards Cross and surrounding area such as golf clubs that would be more suitable for such a venture.

“In other European countries, padel courts are sited at least 160 metres from residential homes and the memorial centre does not merit that kind of space.

“With the proposed opening times of 365 days of the year, many of us would find life intolerable with its noise, lighting and the amount of incoming traffic to serve it.”

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The plans were submitted by a private developer following consultation with the Gerrards Cross Community Association in September.

They have also been criticised by Gerrards Cross Town Council, which described the courts as “unneighbourly” and sounded the alarm over increased “sound and highway pollution” as a result.

Mr Lindsay’s assistant previously told the Free Press that “like most residents”, the BAFTA-award-winning actor “doesn’t want his local community centre turned into a commercial sports complex”.

And those living close to the memorial centre have been particularly outspoken about the development’s potentially “invasive” impact on their day-to-day lives.

Sarah Williams, 57, who lives at adjoining housing estate Marsham Lodge, said the courts would inevitably impact its neighbours, some of whom live “just seven metres away”.

She said elderly residents had been put under particular strain by the 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.”

Developers behind the padel court plans have described the tennis court space as “dilapidated” and “in a state of disrepair” and pointed to padel as an “increasingly popular” activity that would “enhance the community centre and provide a modern and attractive sporting option” in Gerrards Cross.