Padel Court Noise Impact Assessment

Last updated October 2026

If homes are within 50 metres of your planned padel court, the LTA says a noise survey is likely, and noise is the reason padel schemes are refused more than any other. Our acoustic consultants measure your site, model the courts and set out the layout, barriers and hours an environmental health officer can accept. The assessment is quoted per site and goes in with your padel court planning permission application, which we prepare too.

Distance and design decide most noise cases, and the councils’ own decisions show where the lines fall.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Padel court noise decisions by distance to the nearest home, UK councils, 2024 to 2026

Council	Nearest home	What was proposed	Outcome
Bath and North East Somerset	3.5m and 8.5m	2 courts, 3m glazed screen	Refused 6 to 4 on amenity (2024)
Cheshire East Council (Alderley Edge)	14m to the fence, 25m to the court	2 courts, 3.2m acoustic barrier on three sides, reduced hours	Approved 7 to 3 (June 2026)
Reigate and Banstead	about 34m	2 courts	Deferred to consider noise (June 2024)
Redditch Borough Council	Homes facing the open sides	3 courts, 2m acoustic fence	Recommended for refusal on noise (February 2026)
LTA guidance trigger	within 50m	Any padel scheme	Noise and light surveys likely

Every site is different. We confirm what your site needs after a survey.

When does a padel court need a noise impact assessment?

When homes are close enough for the council to worry, which in practice means within 50 metres, the LTA’s own trigger for noise and light surveys. Councils also ask for one on busy town sites: Portsmouth wanted a noise impact assessment for a 2026 car park scheme of three courts at Admiral Park.

Bath and North East Somerset’s committee minutes record LTA advice that homes within 30 metres need noise mitigation. Take that as the zone where the design itself has to change, not just the paperwork.

Why is padel louder than tennis?

Because the ball hits the walls and the glass as well as the racket, and it does so far more often. Research by Martin Higgins of MW Acoustics, carried out under Institute of Acoustics supervision, found:

• about 88 impact sounds every five minutes of club padel, against 50 for tennis
• at 5 metres from the side of the court, padel averaged about 6 dB more than tennis
• at the glass end, padel and tennis were almost the same
• the open side runs about 12 dB higher than the enclosed glass end
• the loudest point is between two courts set side by side

That is why an assessment built for tennis courts can miss what neighbours will actually hear.

What do environmental health officers look for?

They look at the peaks, not only the average. Padel noise is short, sharp and repetitive, so officers check maximum levels (Lmax) and the impulsive character of the sound, as well as the average level (LAeq). The MW Acoustics research warns that an average-only assessment may miss the disturbance.

The Redditch case shows what happens when a report gets this wrong. The applicant assumed 69 dB Lmax, within a range of 65 to 77 dB. The council’s environmental health service said the method was likely to underestimate the impact on neighbours, noting that in a worst case the peaks could sit about 13 dB above the evening average at a first-floor window, audible indoors with a window partly open. It objected. In Sheffield, officers described a club court’s noise as “impulsive, repetitive and intrusive”.

There is also no padel-specific noise standard to lean on: an acoustics firm quoted in 2022 said there is “no specific guidance” for padel. Our acoustic consultants assess the peaks and the rhythm of play, because that is what officers will test.

Which court layout reduces noise?

Turn the glass ends towards the homes and the open sides away from them. With the side about 12 dB louder than the glass end, orientation is the cheapest noise control you have, and the MW Acoustics research names it as the key design choice.

Other layout choices that help:

• avoid placing two courts side by side next to the boundary, as the gap between them is the loudest point
• use the distance you have: Alderley Edge was approved partly because the scheme moved further from homes
• cut the number of courts if it saves the scheme, as the club at Alderley Edge did by dropping a third court

Do acoustic barriers work?

They can, if they are high enough and on the right sides. Alderley Edge was approved with a 3.2 metre barrier on three sides. At Redditch, environmental health found a 2 metre acoustic fence would not screen homes from the open sides of the courts, and in Bath a 3 metre glazed screen did not save a scheme with homes 3.5 metres away.

In Reigate, residents’ own report asked for 10 dB of screening, and a councillor said a similar screen had been required in Esher. Your assessment should state how much reduction the barrier delivers at the nearest window, not just how tall it is.

What hours will the council allow?

Expect daytime and early evening hours near homes, with later play on sites further away. These are hours councils have approved or asked for:

Council	Site	Hours
Horsham District Council	Henfield Leisure Centre, 2 covered courts	07:00 to 21:30 weekdays, 08:00 to 17:00 weekends
Sunderland City Council	Silksworth, 4 covered courts	Daytime only
Portsmouth City Council	Admiral Park car park proposal	No play 10pm to 7am requested
Belfast City Council	Indoor centre, Redcar Street	07:00 to 23:00
Leeds City Council	Cross Green football site, 4 outdoor courts (retrospective)	6am to 11.30pm

Hours alone do not always carry it. At Harrogate, planning officers recommended approval and the environmental health officer suggested play only from 8am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 7pm on Sundays, yet councillors still refused.

How long does an assessment take, and what does it cost?

We quote it per site, and it is prepared before the application goes in, so it sits inside the planning programme rather than adding to the 8-week decision period for a non-major application in England. The price depends on the number of courts, the layout options to test and how close the nearest homes are.

Ask for it with the planning application and the build, and you get one quote with each part shown as its own line.

What happens if residents commission their own report?

The committee will weigh both, and a weak report from the applicant will not hold. In Reigate, residents’ own acoustic evidence pushed for 10 dB of screening and the committee deferred the decision. Our acoustic consultants write assessments expecting that challenge: worst-case peaks, the open sides, and first-floor windows.

What’s included

• A site visit by our acoustic consultants with baseline noise readings
• Modelling of the courts in your preferred layout, and alternatives where the first layout falls short
• Advice on orientation, barrier height and position, and hours of play
• The written noise impact assessment for your planning application
• Answers to environmental health questions during the application

What’s not included

• Building the acoustic barrier, which is priced in your build quote
• Post-completion noise testing, unless a planning condition asks for it; we quote it then
• A guarantee that the council will accept the findings, as the decision is the council’s

Illustrative example

Built only from the figures on this page. No real client or location.

A tennis club wants two courts with the nearest house 30 metres from the side of the proposed courts. The first layout puts the open sides facing the houses. With the side about 12 dB louder than the glass end, our acoustic consultants test turning the courts so the glass ends face the homes, then size a barrier for the remaining sides and propose daytime and early evening hours like those approved at Henfield. The application goes in with that design rather than the first one.

Who does the work

Padel Court Build is a SustainPlan Ltd service. Our acoustic consultants carry out the assessment, we feed them the layout and design data, our planning consultants take the application, and our installers build the court and barrier.

Often needed alongside

• Padel court planning permission: the full application service and real council decisions
• Padel court lighting: the lighting assessment, the report that goes in alongside this one
• Padel court canopy: covered courts and how they are assessed
• Garden padel court: neighbours and courts at home

FAQs

Is padel noisier than tennis for neighbours?

At the side of the court, yes: about 6 dB more on average in the MW Acoustics research, with roughly 88 impacts every five minutes against 50. At the glass end, the two were close to level.

Will an acoustic fence fix a noise problem?

Not on its own. Height, position and the open sides matter more than the fact of having a fence, as Redditch’s 2 metre fence showed.

Can we do the assessment after the court is built?

You can, as part of a retrospective application, but councils have stopped courts being used while that happens. At Harrogate an enforcement notice ordered play to stop.

Does a covered court need a noise assessment?

If homes are within 50 metres, plan on one. The canopy is modelled as part of the design.

Who reviews the assessment?

The council’s environmental health officers comment on it, and the planning committee or officer makes the decision.

Do floodlit courts need a separate lighting report?

Usually, yes. Our lighting consultants prepare it alongside this one, so both arrive together.

Sources

• LTA Padel Court Construction Guidance Note 2025: 50m noise and light survey trigger (checked 17 Oct 2026)
• MW Acoustics research by Martin Higgins, reported by The Padel Paper, 11 Sept 2025
• Redditch BC planning report 25/00162/FUL (committee 19 Feb 2026)
• BathNES committee minutes, ref 24/00607/FUL
• Reigate and Banstead committee item, ref 22/02353/F (5 June 2024)
• Horsham DC report DC/23/1177 (22 Nov 2023)
• Alderley Edge news, 27 June 2026; Stray Ferret, 28 April 2026; Sheffield Star, October 2026; Sunderland Echo, 28 Sept 2026; Irish News, March 2026; Yorkshire Evening Post, 6 Aug 2026; The News Portsmouth, 22 Sept 2026; Camden New Journal, 28 Nov 2022