Padel court planning trends
UK councils received 1,033 padel court applications in the 12 months to September 2026, more than three times the number for tennis courts.
Padel court applications since 2016
Padel court applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredDotted: tennis courts, for comparison.
Doubling, then doubling again
Padel drew level with tennis courts in 2024 and pulled clear in 2025, its share more than doubling each year, to 16 in every 10,000 in 2025. The Lawn Tennis Association counted 1,553 courts at the end of 2025, up from 870 a year earlier.
Strongest in the North West
From 2023 to 2025, padel made up 14 in every 10,000 applications in the North West, against 8.5 across the UK, with the South East next on 12. Scotland was lowest on 3.0. Cheshire East leads all councils with 54 since 2016.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 235 padel court applications in Q3 2026: 23 in every 10,000 applications, against 18 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 28% higher than a year earlier.
Padel court applications each quarter
235 in Q3 2026, against 196 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 23 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 18 a year earlier.
Where padel court applications concentrate
By region
Padel court applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
-
Cheshire East
North West · 14 in every 10,000 54 -
Leeds
Yorkshire and Humber · 5.2 in every 10,000 31 -
Elmbridge
South East · 11 in every 10,000 28 -
South Downs National Park
South East · 7.8 in every 10,000 25 -
North Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 3.6 in every 10,000 24 -
East Riding of Yorkshire
Yorkshire and Humber · 7.7 in every 10,000 23 -
Birmingham
West Midlands · 3.4 in every 10,000 22 -
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
South West · 5.6 in every 10,000 20 -
Cotswold
South West · 10 in every 10,000 20 -
Sefton
North West · 13 in every 10,000 19
Latest padel court applications
- Land Parcel North Of Barns Court Turners Hill Road Crawley Down West Sussex Construction of a padel tennis facility (Use Class E(d)) with ancillary cafe, changing facilities and W/C's (all within Use Class E), signage, car and cycle parking, bin storage, with associated access and works.
- Unit 1 And Unit 4, Centric (Formerly Sanders Building And Gunnels Wood Building) Gunnels Wood Road Stevenage Herts Change of Use to Flexible use of Units 1 and 4 (Units 1 and 2 as approved under planning permission 21/01362/FPM), for either or both of the following uses as alternatives: (a) large-format indoor sport and recreation (Use Class E(d)), including padel courts and/or a climbing centre, with ancillary cafe, retail, changing and office floorspace; or (b) purposes within Use Classes E(g)(i), E(g)(ii), E(g)(iii), B2 and B8.
- Mersey Valley Sports And Social Club Banky Lane Sale Erection of canopy structure over 1no existing Padel Court.
- CO-OP Academy Belle Vue 450 Hyde Road Manchester Erection of building to provide a new hall and 3 SEND classrooms, including an internal plant room and 1 padel court.
- Big Padlock Ltd, Vauxhall Industrial Estate, Ruabon, Wrexham Change of use of building from Industrial unit (Class B2) to indoor padel complex (Class D2)
- Land At Corner Of Luton Road And Thrales End Lane Harpenden Hertfordshire Prior Approval of change of use from agricultural building to flexible commercial use: Leisure facility to include two padel courts, private gym and golf simulator.
How often are they refused?
Of 523 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 13.4% were refused, close to the 11.3% for all applications.
Refusal rate by year
Decisions, applications received 2016 to 2024
- Approved or refused523
- Refused13.4%
- Withdrawn before a decision55
- All applications11.3% refused
Questions
How many padel court planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 2,167 since January 2016, 1,033 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share peaked in the 12 months to August 2026.
Where are the most padel courts being applied for?
Cheshire East, Leeds and Elmbridge have received the most since 2016.
How often are padel court applications refused?
Of 523 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 13.4% were refused, close to the 11.3% for all applications.
Are padel courts counted in the tennis court figures?
No, unless the application also converts or replaces an existing tennis court, when it counts on both pages. Otherwise an application for padel courts counts here and is left out of the tennis court figures.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
Councils received fewer than 35 padel applications a year up to 2020.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names padel courts or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent padel court applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. This topic has no planning index: councils received fewer than 20 in 2016, too few to measure change against.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Refusals: applications received 2016 to 2024 and decided, at councils whose published decisions pass our checks against their decision notices. Approvals and refusals count; withdrawals do not. "All applications" means every decision of that kind at the same councils over the same years. Applications received from 2025 are added once most are decided.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- The Lawn Tennis Association counted 1,553 padel courts at the end of 2025, against 870 a year earlier. ltapadel.org.uk