Padel is growing in popularity

WHEN it comes to the famous Wimbledon tennis championships, the thwack of a ball hitting a racquet is part of the pleasing grass court atmosphere. But how loud can a mutated form of the game – padel – get?

Downton Abbey actor Jim Carter has asked council planners that question amid a bid to build a new court close to his home in West Hampstead.

The New Journal reported earlier this month how the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), which runs South Hampstead High School, has submitted a planning application for the new facility which would be built on part of the Hampstead Cricket Club in Lymington Road.

Padel, which is growing in popularity in the UK and has been endorsed by Scottish grand slam hero Andy Murray, is played with the same scoring system as tennis but with a smaller court and with enclosed walls like squash.

Jim Carter in ITV’s classic drama series

In an objection filed at the Town Hall and published on the council’s planning website, Mr Carter said he was concerned by the accuracy of a study into what the noise impact would be and the number of hours the new court would be used for each week.

“Instantaneous noise level assessments for tennis bear little relationship to the explosive noise associated with Padel tennis,” he wrote. “A brief visit to the public Padel tennis courts at Regents Park or Hyde Park reveals that the heavy sound of a Padel ball on bat and ball on side panels drowns out the sounds of tennis.”

He added: “Competitive Padel tennis is an aggressive game with associated aggressive levels of sound from players and equipment.”

He said that noise surveys should be taken from a padel club and “not a more genteel recreational park court” to get a true reflection of how things could end up sounding.

Ramboll Acoustics, who were appointed by the Trust, said “there is no specific guidance for predicting the impact of padel court tennis noise” but added that their findings showed the expected sounds meet “WHO guideline noise limits” and no further mitigation measures were needed.

The cricket pitch will not be affected by the new facility and the club has a long lease on the site from the GDST.

A planning application said: “The design would be sympathetic and appropriate to its surroundings and would not be obtrusive.”

‘A cross between tennis and squash’

WHAT on earth is “padel” and why is Wimbledon winner Sir Andy Murray so excited about it?

Well, it’s been described as a cross between tennis and squash, and credited with getting more young people picking up a racquet and getting involved in sport. It is growing quickly in the UK but was actually invented in Mexico in the 1960s and has been well played in other countries for many years. Padel enthusiasts want to see it made into an Olympic sport – as tennis now is.

There is a conflict though: the International Padel Federation and the International Tennis Federation have clashed over who should be running the sport and there were claims of a “hostile takeover” last week – a claim aimed at the ITF.

Sir Andy and his doubles champ brother Jamie are among the active supporters of the game – they also include Rafa Nadal – and have invested in Game4Padel, a company promoting it around the country and providing padel courts, including a shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush.

He has described the game as “really positive” in getting children active on a court