Officers say refuse Podington Padel's barn courts on 12 October, despite 169 letters of support. Sharnbrook's last 76 Hill Farm homes are up the same night.
Council planning officers are recommending, for the second time this year, that Podington Padel be refused permission for the two courts it already runs in a farm barn. Bedford Borough Council’s Planning Committee decides on Monday 12 October.
The club is at Greys Farm on Wymington Road, Podington, about ten miles north-west of Bedford near the Northamptonshire border. The application is part-retrospective: the committee report says the works have been done and the site is already operating.
The same meeting will also settle the final phase of the 500-home Hill Farm development in Sharnbrook, about seven miles north of the town.
Why officers say no to the padel courts
The applicant is the Bromborough Estate, the company named on the club’s own website. An earlier application for the same courts, 26/00122/S73A, was refused on two grounds: no “sequential test” and no noise report.
The new application includes a noise report, and the council’s environmental health officer has no objection. The report says the courts are indoors and the noise is below what nearby homes already hear in the day and evening. Officers accept that the noise reason has been overcome.
The other reason still stands, according to the report. Officers class the courts as a “main town centre use”. That means the applicant has to show why they could not go in a town centre or on its edge, and no such assessment has been submitted. The report points to Rushden as a nearby larger urban area.
Officers also say the site is in an unsustainable location:
- the nearest bus stop is about 600 metres away, by Podington Church
- there is no footpath for most of that walk, and no street lighting
- the bus runs two or three times a day, between 10am and 5.30pm
- players would be “entirely reliant” on cars to get there
The report notes the courts are bookable from 6am to 11pm on the club’s website. With four players a court, officers say the comings and goings are too many for the “small scale rural” exemption from the sequential test. If councillors did approve it, officers would limit opening to 7am to 11pm.
The support for the club
The application drew 169 letters of support and one objection, the report records. Supporters said there are few other padel courts in the area, that it brings health and social benefits, and that rural residents should not have to travel into towns for everything. The objector raised noise, lighting and the precedent of a commercial leisure use in the countryside.
Podington, Farndish and Hinwick Parish Council gave “strong support”. It says the club is a rural diversification with a large amount of local demand.
The application is only at committee because a ward councillor called it in if officers recommended refusal. The report gives the call-in reasons: support for rural business, reuse of an existing building, very few padel courts within a 25-mile radius, and the number of registered members.
Sharnbrook: the last 76 homes at Hill Farm
Redrow South Midlands wants approval for the layout, scale and appearance of 76 homes on parcels L and M at Hill Farm, Mill Road. Officers recommend approval. It is the last residential application under the 2025 permission for 500 homes, allocated in the Sharnbrook Neighbourhood Plan.
The figures in the committee report are:
| Stage | Homes | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Full permission, 22/02193/MOF | 304 | Decision issued 29 August 2025 |
| Parcels I, J and K, 25/02360/MAR | 120 | Approved April 2026 |
| Parcels L and M, 26/00537/MAR | 76 | Committee, 12 October |
What the 76 homes include:
- 14 affordable rent homes and 4 shared ownership homes
- 46 homes built to the M4(2) accessible standard and 4 to the wheelchair M4(3) standard
- two-storey houses in 15 house types, two of them new to the site
- buff or red brick with grey or red tiles, matching the earlier phases
The 18 affordable homes bring the whole site to the 150 required by its legal agreement, 30% of the 500. The wider permission also covers a primary school site, a community hub, playing pitches and a new roundabout on the A6.
Sharnbrook Parish Council had objected to the first version. It noted that amendments had added parking and space for bin lorries. The parish said the most important thing was for infrastructure to be in place to keep disruption to residents to a minimum. Six residents objected, over traffic, foul water, parking on Templars Way, overdevelopment and too little green space.
The police architectural liaison officer objected because three house types have recessed doorways and poor natural surveillance. The council’s waste team wanted further layout changes. Officers propose a condition requiring a bin lorry tracking plan for the whole site before work starts.
The other applications on the agenda
- 40 Fearnley Crescent, Kempston: change of use from a four-bedroom house to a four-bedroom small house in multiple occupation (HMO). Kempston Town Council and one resident objected over parking. Officers recommend approval: the council’s records show 116 homes within 100 metres and no licensed HMOs, so the change would take the share to about 3.5%, against a 30% limit.
- 21 Halsey Road, Kempston: use of garden land for storing up to six vehicles for an existing business, cut from nine during the application. Kempston Town Council objected. Officers recommend approval with conditions.
- Thurleigh Primary School: air source heat pumps on the roof to replace an old oil-fired heating system. It is at committee because the council is the applicant. One neighbour objected over noise; officers recommend approval.
HMOs in Kempston and Queens Park were also the subject of petitions at tomorrow’s Full Council meeting, which we reported on Saturday.
What it means for you
The meeting is at 6.30pm on Monday 12 October in the Council Chamber at Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, MK42 9AP. The agenda page carries the full reports and a link to the webcast. Applicants, objectors and supporters can address the committee under the council’s Right to Speak scheme, and the agenda page names the democratic services officer to contact.
Plans and comments for each application are on the council’s planning portal; search by the reference. For other applications near you, see our Bedford planning news.
If the padel application is refused again, the applicant could appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. The report does not say what action the council would take over the courts already in use.
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