Whittlebury Park Golf And Country Club High Street Whittlebury NN12 8WP Data via plota.co.uk

2026/1120/OUT - Outline Planning Application Approved

Proposal

Outline application (all matters reserved) for erection of Padel Court building Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

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Received
4 Mar 2026
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Committee
2 Jul 2026
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Approved
16 Jul 2026

Approved on 16 Jul 2026 · Committee · Last checked 11 Sept 2026

Planning committee

Decided by West Northamptonshire Non-Strategic Planning Committee on 2 Jul 2026.

Approved by 8 votes to 1

As officers recommended.

  • Officers advised approval because the proposal’s economic and social benefits outweighed its limited environmental impacts, subject to conditions.
  • No consultees or residents objected, while Economic Development supported the application.
  • The committee voted eight to one to approve, removing the condition that barred public use of the padel courts.
Read how the committee decided The proposal, officers’ assessment, consultation responses, public speaking, committee debate, vote and final decision. Includes the meeting recording

Source: Plota analysis of West Northamptonshire's committee minutes of 2 Jul 2026.

Documents 35

All documents on the council site ↗

Site constraints 3

Agricultural land, grade 3b
Not best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s), which most planning maps still show, had this area as grade 4. The predicted grade is Defra's current estimate; only a site survey settles it.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 2
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Also on the record
Priority habitat about 43 m away: Deciduous woodland.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 11 September 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Application type
Outline Planning Application
Postcode
NN12 8WP
Received
4 Mar 2026
Validated
4 Mar 2026
Ward
Rural South Ward
Parish
Whittlebury
Target decision
17 Jul 2026
Decision
Approval
Decision date
16 Jul 2026
Decision level
Committee

How this decision compares

Decided in 134 days from validation, 53 days slower than West Northamptonshire's median of 81 for commercial and major works. Approved, as 92% of commercial and major works here are.

25%decided within 8 weeks
92%approved
65decided in the last year

Plota live figures for commercial and major works decided by West Northamptonshire in the last twelve months, from validation. West Northamptonshire decision record →

Consultation & key dates

Comments by
27 May 2026
Committee
2 Jul 2026
West Northamptonshire
Planning Authority Score
1.7/10
Poor
#280 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Major dwellings

West Northamptonshire is one of the slowest councils in England for householder decisions, ranking #295 out of 296. The council extends the time limit on 79% of applications - one of the highest rates in England. Expect your application to take longer than the standard deadline. Householder applications are slightly more likely to be approved here (93%) than the national average (90%).

Among the slowest councils in England
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
West Northamptonshire decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
90%
Overall approval rate
Above avg (87%) #123 of 296
93%
Householder approved
Above avg (90%) #144 of 296
18%
Decided in 8 weeks
Below avg (63%) #295 of 296
79%
Extended time limit
Above avg (41%) #295 of 296
81%
Minor dwellings approved
170 decided (1-9 homes)
83%
Major dwellings approved
24 decided (10+ homes)
86%
Change of use approved
207 decided
1,832
Total decisions
179 refused in the year to March 2026