You would almost forget that tennis still exists, because padel is a lot more popular with most associations in Brabant. In 2019, our province only had 35 padel locations, now there are already 122. Good for the clubs and members, but local residents are disturbed by the noise.
In Uden, for example, residents can no longer sit quietly in the garden, because of the plop of the balls on the rackets and against the glass of the cage. Padel is a cross between tennis and squash and is played with hard rackets and plastic walls. The cage acts as a kind of sound box, which amplifies the sound. And the neighbors notice that.
In many more places in Brabant there is nuisance or legal proceedings are underway. A hotline has even been set up, where residents be able to pass on complaints.
According to that site, nuisance has been reported in, among others:
- forest side,
- Den Bosch,
- geffen,
- grave,
- mierlo,
- nuenen,
- rosmalen,
- shaik,
- teterings,
- Tilburg,
- uden,
- valkenswaard,
- waalre.
Erik Roelofsen of the Dutch Noise Abatement Foundation (NSG) understands the complaints, because, according to him, padel causes much more noise than tennis. “Two padel courts make as much noise as ten tennis courts. With four padel courts you have to compare that with a hundred tennis courts. As a non-physicist, that may be a bit difficult to understand, but that’s a big deal.”
According to the NSG, padel courts should therefore be at least 200 meters away from homes. But most municipalities adhere to the guideline for tennis courts, which are only 50 meters away. “There are a lot of misconceptions in that. Municipalities should think about this more carefully,” says Roelofsen.
“Even if we wanted six jobs, we still meet the noise standards.”
That happened in Helmond three years ago. There two tennis clubs merged, because the padel courts in the Rijpelberg district were practically in the backyards of the local residents. When the noise standards turned out to be considerably exceeded, they were only allowed to play until half past seven in the evening. “As a result, the members stayed away and we decided to merge”, says Theo Thielen, chairman of TPC Espendonk, as the club is now called.
The municipality contributed 145,000 euros to the move, which meant that not two, but four jobs could be built in the Brouwhuis district. The number of members has now almost tripled. A green noise barrier was placed in front of the only house in the area. “We haven’t had any complaints since then. Even if we wanted six jobs, we would stay within the noise standards,” says Thielen.
There was room there to install such a noise barrier, but the question is whether this is also possible in Uden. In any case, the association promised to solve it for the residents.
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