Ashton Cricket Club, Ashton under Lyne
- Client
- Fusion Padel Club
- Location
- Ashton under Lyme
- Project size
- Four indoor padel courts
- Status
- Approved
Fusion Padel Club is a new standalone covered facility on the edge of Ashton Cricket Club. The scheme brings an unused part of the club's grounds into active sporting use, but placing a new building next to an existing cricket pitch raised some important planning questions.
The key issue was ball strike risk from the adjacent cricket pitch. Sport England is a statutory consultee on development within playing fields, and it needed to be confident that the new building could sit safely alongside the cricket pitch without compromising play or putting people and property at risk. Padel Plan engaged in detailed discussions with Sport England to understand its concerns and to agree the measures needed to address them.
Through this engagement, key mitigation measures were agreed that ensured Sport England could support the scheme. This was central to the success of the application, allowing an otherwise unused area of the site to be developed for sport while protecting the cricket club's existing activities.
The application also had to address detailed issues relating to tree impacts and highways. We made sure these were properly assessed and resolved, giving the council the full picture it needed to reach a decision.
This scheme highlights how important it is to resolve Sport England's concerns early. Many padel projects are proposed within existing sports grounds, where Sport England's support can make or break an application. At Padel Plan, we have extensive experience of working with Sport England, agreeing practical mitigation that protects existing sports while unlocking new opportunities for padel.
