Work on two new padel courts will soon get underway – despite initial concerns they will be \u201cvisually intrusive\u201d and \u201cnoisy\u201d.<\/p>\n
The popular racquet game, described as a hybrid between tennis and squash, will arrive in Sandwich following approval from Dover District Council earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Work will begin in the spring to construct two padel courts at Sandwich Tennis Club<\/p>\n
Originally, three courts were set to be installed at Sandwich Tennis Club in Sandown Road, but a variation, approved last month, altered it to two.<\/p>\n
Fundraising for the new courts is currently underway, including via grants, loans and membership fees at the club, which offer unlimited free play for a year, with more than half already sold.<\/p>\n
Committee member Lloyd Daniels said it\u2019s hoped work will begin in late April or early May to have the courts ready for the summer season.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur padel project is already creating lots of local interest. Padel is becoming such a popular sport in the UK and is a natural partner to tennis,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Sandwich Tennis Club committee member, Lloyd Daniels<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had permission for three padel courts, but as time went on, it felt more prudent to start with two, hence the amendment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are lucky with our site in that we only have houses across the road, along one side of the club, which are far away from the proposed padel courts.<\/p>\n
\u201cPadel courts are quite expensive, ranging from \u00a330,000 to \u00a350,000 each, and the groundworks are the same again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are funding the project through grants, loans and founder memberships.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few of our tennis members are worried about the change it will bring to the club. However, we believe once it\u2019s up and running, everyone will benefit from a better-funded, busier club.\u201d<\/p>\n
In total, 26 comments for and five objections were logged on DDC\u2019s planning portal.<\/p>\n
It’s hoped the new padel courts at Sandwich Tennis Club will be open in the summer<\/p>\n
Margaret Carnegie, who opposed the plans, said: \u201cFor the project to be financially viable, the padel courts will need to be used substantially, which will increase the pressure on access and parking spaces, which are already at a premium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe courts will be visually intrusive, and padel is a notoriously noisy sport, which will have a real impact on neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Grahame Connor commented: \u201cPadel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. It would be great for Sandwich to have this facility in the heart of the town.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is particularly suitable for getting younger and older people into sport. Many will be new to the activity, and it provides exercise in a social environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearby in Deal, Play Padel Club at Victoria Park, close to Tides Leisure Centre, was named the best club in Kent by the Lawn Tennis Association in Kent<\/a>.<\/p>\n The team took over the site in 2023, which had once hosted tennis courts labelled \u201cdull and unwanted\u201d.<\/p>\n Padel venues can now be found in Ashford<\/a>, Canterbury<\/a>, Folkestone and Whitstable<\/a>, with a project in Ramsgate also underway<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Thanet project will be Kent\u2019s first purpose-built padel centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Work on two new padel courts will soon get underway – despite initial concerns they will be \u201cvisually…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[19289,609,495,12717,48013,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-810869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-deal","9":"tag-human-interest","10":"tag-kent","11":"tag-planning","12":"tag-sandwich","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116190012128689742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}