Potato shed pickleball plan faulted by council

The applicants, Shropshire based Pickleball Central UK, wanted to convert a former agricultural building into pickleball courts on Lower Cound Farm, between Cross Houses and Cressage on the A458.

The company says the facilities they currently rent at Shrewsbury Sports Village are too over-subscribed to allow its top-class members to train for international tournaments, and planned to smooth out and paint the concrete floors of the farm building to create two new courts for coaching sessions.

But Shropshire Council refused permission for the scheme, saying that while the change of use was allowed under permitted development rules, cars turning onto the site would affect the “free flow and safe movement of traffic” from the busy A458.

A planning statement submitted with the application included an indicative timetable for sessions at the proposed courts, showing around nine sessions would take place each week resulting in around 35 two-way traffic movements to and from the site.

“The proposed purpose built courts will provide much needed facilities for elite members to be able to train sufficiently for international tournaments, and for more intimate coaching sessions for members who require additional practise. The use of the facility will be for members only, and will not be available for wider public use,” it said.

“The proposals will see an overall shift to a lighter profile of traffic movements compared to the extant agricultural use, with the proposed movements occurring outside of peak network hours. Accordingly, it is considered that the proposed use can be accommodated on the site without any detriment to the operational capacity and safety of the adjoining highway network,” it added.

But Shropshire Council’s highways team disagreed, saying the development could result in an intensification of what they described as a “substandard access” to the site via the existing single track drive.

“Whilst the use of the building would be permitted development… the proposal risks creating negative transport and highways impacts at the site’s access onto the A458, where the site’s road frontage adjoins a de-restricted section of principal road along which vehicles tend to move at fast speeds,” said the refusal notice.

“The proposed development would be likely to give rise to additional turning traffic on the adjacent principal road by vehicles entering and leaving the site to the detriment of the free flow and safe movement of traffic using the principal road.

“Visibility from the site access is restricted and it is considered that the proposal, if permitted, would be likely to result in an intensification of the use of a substandard access to the detriment of the safe movement and free flow of traffic on the adjoining principal road.”