COUNCILLORS have delayed a decision on whether to let the David Lloyd gym keep two new floodlit padel courts built without planning permission.
Bristol City Council’s development control committee voted by 7-2 to defer an application by the private fitness club in Westbury-on-Trym because of conflicting evidence about the presence of and potential harm to protected species including bats, owls and badgers at Badock’s Wood, a site of nature conservation interest (SNCI).
David Lloyd Clubs replaced an outdoor tennis court with a pair of padel courts – a racquet sport similar to tennis but with walls and mesh fencing – and floodlighting
Its retrospective application for consent received more than 50 objections, including from Friends of Badock’s Wood and Westbury-on-Trym Society, although the club insisted an ecological survey showed there would be no harm to nature or neighbours by either light or noise, while officers recommended approval.
But the committee disagreed and decided to push back a decision until after a site visit and for more information about local ecology near the site in Greystoke Avenue.
Four six-metre floodlights have been installed and the leisure centre also removed some trees, although these would be replaced, the meeting was told.
An alternative proposal by Cllr Lisa Durston (Labour, Filwood) to give the go-ahead but reduce the times the lights could be on from the requested 6am to 10pm Monday to Friday and 7am to 9pm on weekends and bank holidays to 9am to 9pm was rejected by 6-3 votes in favour of a deferral.
David Lloyd Clubs planning agent Ollie Collins told the meeting on September 18 that all council department officers and statutory consultees were satisfied with the proposals, including pollution control which had no objections about light or noise.
A council planning officer said noise levels would be below the recommended guidelines from Sport England and the World Health Organisation and that maximum levels were “significantly lower” than existing surrounding noise.
But ward Cllr Kye Dudd (Labour, Southmead) said the ecological impact assessment commissioned by the applicant “completely contradicted” local knowledge of the area, including wildlife groups.
Green Party committee member Cllr Paula O’Rourke (Clifton) said “a lot of extra nuisance” would be caused by extra light and noise.
Cllr Zoe Peat (Labour, Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston) said it was hard to justify the floodlights when that meant threatening local ecology.
Cllr Caroline Gooch (Lib Dem, Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze) said padel tended to create noise 10 decibels louder than tennis and that the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) had not yet issued guidance about how far from homes padel courts should be. Tennis courts must be 50 metres away and the nearest to David Lloyd Club are 57 metres.
Cllr Gooch said: “The thing that worries me is that people describe the noise like gunfire, and with eight people playing it’s quite an intrusive noise. The quality of the sound is quite penetrating.
“There are children living in these houses and for some reason David Lloyd closes earlier on a Saturday night than on a school night.”
By Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service