Plans to build more padel courts in city submitted

More padel courts could be built in Preston as developers rush to take advantage of the game's surging popularity.

Plans have been unveiled to convert a vacant warehouse, on Caxton Road in Fulwood, into a venue for padel, which is a hybrid of tennis and squash.

If the proposals are backed by councillors, it would bring the total number of indoor and outdoor padel centres in the city to four.

West View Leisure Centre became the first in 2023. Since then, courts have been installed at Broughton and District Club on Whittingham Lane and, earlier this year, at the former Staples and Office Outlet unit, off Ringway.

The proposed Caxton Road centre would accommodate four courts, along with a spectator viewing areas and a café.

The planning application submitted to Preston City Council stated that the sport, played on a court roughly a third of the size of a tennis court, was "growing dramatically in popularity across the UK".

Two years ago, it was described as one of the world's "fastest-growing" sports, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The conversion would require barely any external changes, except to improve access to what was a former food storage building.

The current 22-space car park would be almost quadrupled in capacity to 82 bays following the removal of spaces for articulated lorries.

A statement lodged with town hall planners said the new facility, which would sit within an industrial area, would create 12 full-time and six part-time jobs.

The document said: "This proposal represents a sustainable and beneficial repurposing of an under-utilised warehouse, supporting health and wellbeing through sport.

"The padel tennis centre will provide a high-quality recreational facility that is accessible, inclusive, and well-integrated into the local community."

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