Eashing Lane

The proposal sought full planning permission for the development of a small-scale outdoor sports facility comprising four padel courts (two covered and two open), alongside ancillary buildings, parking and landscaping on land at Eashing Lane, Milford. The site, currently used as private amenity space and a football pitch, lies immediately adjacent to the settlement boundary of Milford and near the approved Hurst Farm residential development. The scheme has been carefully arranged to consolidate built form within a limited portion of the site, incorporating modest, timber-clad structures and largely transparent court enclosures to minimise visual impact and maintain openness.

From a planning perspective, the principal considerations relate to the site’s designation within the Green Belt and Area of Great Landscape Value. While built development in the Green Belt is generally inappropriate, the proposal is framed as outdoor sport and recreation, which may constitute an exception where openness is preserved. The design approach—limited building footprint, permeable parking, and visually lightweight structures—seeks to address this requirement. Where elements such as covered courts introduce potential harm, the case relies on Very Special Circumstances, including a clear deficiency in local padel provision, strong health and wellbeing benefits, and the site’s functional and spatial relationship with adjacent approved residential and recreational uses.

Other material considerations include landscape impact, residential amenity, highways, lighting and ecology. The scheme incorporates mitigation through soft landscaping, controlled lighting design, and separation distances to neighbouring properties, with courts positioned away from the nearest dwelling. Access is achieved via reinstatement of a historic access point, supported by a transport assessment confirming no material highway impact. Overall, the development is presented as a contextually responsive, low-intensity recreational use that complements emerging patterns of growth in the area while delivering community and health benefits.