Cork padel tennis facility applies for permission for four new courts

A PADEL tennis facility which opened in Cork at the end of last year has applied for planning permission to construct four outdoor courts.

Padel, which has only recently taken off in Ireland, is a mix between tennis and squash and is usually played in doubles on an enclosed court one third of the size of a tennis court that is surrounded by glass walls.

The current facility has four enclosed indoor courts, so this permission would double their offering, and make the Cork facility the largest in Ireland.

Mark White, the founder and managing director of the facility, told The Echo: “We are thrilled with the success of our new Padel Campus at Fota Junction since opening in November 2023.

“The level of court bookings is ahead of our expectations and we are delighted to now be embarking on an expansion of the campus by applying for permission for four additional courts.”

The company’s planning application noted: “The current Padel Tennis Ireland Facility opened in November 2023 at Unit A1 of Retail Building A, and resulted in significant popularity with an increase in pressure for expansion of the existing padel tennis courts facilities.

“The location of the site in relation to Cork city and its suburbs means that it can be easily accessed by a vast clientele through national and regional roads and connectivity to active travel infrastructure while providing diversity in employment types to the area.”

The application also said that the development would “make a fitting use from the otherwise disused brownfield site while complimenting the overall amenity of the development and facilitating the drive in demand for additional facilities”.

Mr White added: “An eight-court Padel Campus would be the largest in Ireland, and our expansion plans also include more locations in Cork, which we will be announcing in due course.

“As padel is now the fastest-growing sport in the world, we are delighted to be focusing our energies on Cork so that more people will have more facilities to enjoy this amazing sport.”

Each court would be individually floodlit, so that they can be used in the evening time, and enclosed with a combination of a perimeter of clear tempered glass, and fencing ranging in height between three and four metres.

The permission application also includes a 2m-high concrete boundary wall around the outdoor padel tennis courts.