Birkdale Padel Club, Southport
- Client
- Birkdale Padel Club
- Location
- Southport
- Project size
- Two outdoor courts and three covered courts
- Status
- Approved and Operational
- Website
- https://www.birkdalepadel.club
Birkdale Padel Club sits within Victoria Park on Southport's seafront, a protected public park in a highly sensitive location. The scheme raised a number of complex planning issues, with heritage, noise and tree impacts all needing careful attention before consent could be secured.
Heritage was a key consideration from the outset. Victoria Park is a valued historic open space on the seafront, and the council needed to be confident that the courts would respect its character and setting. Padel Plan prepared the evidence to show how the scheme could be accommodated without harming the qualities that make the park special.
Half of the courts are covered, and introducing canopies onto a previously open site within a protected public park was a significant challenge. We worked through the design and siting of the covers carefully to demonstrate that they could sit comfortably within the park while giving players year round use of the facility.
The site also lies close to existing noise sensitive receptors, including the adjacent café and nearby residential properties. We addressed noise impacts in detail, showing that the courts could operate without causing unacceptable disturbance to neighbours or park users. Mature trees on and around the site presented a further constraint, and we made sure these were properly assessed and protected through the design of the scheme.
By bringing the heritage, noise and arboricultural evidence together into a single, well reasoned case, Padel Plan secured planning consent for the club. The courts are now open and have proved very popular.
This scheme shows how padel can be successfully introduced into sensitive public parks. At Padel Plan, we combine specialist knowledge of padel developments with a detailed understanding of planning policy, managing complex technical constraints to deliver consent on challenging sites.
