Fast-growing sport comes to key site
Braywick: Padel tennis centre to open at former SportsAble building
A new padel tennis facility is set to move into Braywick Park after the application was unanimously supported by the council.
Despite many councillors at Wednesday’s Maidenhead development management committee having never heard of the sport, which is claimed to be the fastest growing in the world, they welcomed the proposal for the former SportsAble building.
The registered speaker in favour of the application was cabinet lead for leisure, Councillor
Joshua Reynolds (Lib Dem, Furze Platt) who highlighted that no objections had been made to the application by the Berkshire Padel Club Ltd.
He was ‘proud’ the administration could bring a new sport into Maidenhead and said the proposal would invest in the empty SportsAble building which has been subject to vandalism and break-ins, and ‘bring it up to date and fit for purpose for the 21st century’.
“The proposal will bring in over £1million worth of investment and revenue into the Royal Borough over the next 20 years and will significantly add to sport in Windsor and Maidenhead.”
The proposal involves the construction of seven external padel courts and one internal padel court and was welcomed by Oldfield ward councillor Geoff Hill (tBfI) who said it was a ‘pretty innocuous’ development with ‘barely noticeable’ building modifications.
Fellow ward councillor Helen Taylor (tBfI) agreed and said she was ‘excited’ to see the building brought back into use with another sports group.
She said: “It was really sad to see SportsAble go, it was such a community centre and the people were lovely.
“It did bring together the rest of the sports clubs that were in Braywick Sport Association.”
Councillor Gary Reeves (Lib Dem, Cox Green) said: “I think it’s a great opportunity to expand on the different sports that are available in the local area rather than simply expanding on current existing sports.
“This brings in the opportunity for those to explore other areas that aren’t football players or rugby players, [to] be active.
“It’s one of the fastest growing sports in the world and it is increasing hugely in popularity so I think this is a great opportunity for us to capitalise on that.”
Councillor Gurch Singh (Lib Dem, St Mary’s) concluded: “Am I sad to see SportsAble go? Not really.
“It was a dedicated space for disabled people to play sports but it was formed in a time when there was a lot of discrimination and segregation from disabled people and able-bodied and it’s really good to see a lot of the facilities and sports have been incorporated into the Braywick Leisure Centre [and] everybody is being catered for.”
The motion to permit the planning application in line with officers’ recommendations was proposed by Councillor Hill and seconded by Councillor Taylor with all councillors unanimously supporting the decision.