Trentham Padel Venue: Premises, Planning, Building, Fire and Licensing Blueprint

Project: Six-court indoor padel venue, Trentham/Stoke-on-Trent area
Purpose: Turnkey acquisition-to-opening approval plan
Status: Planning-level decision document; verify against the final address, title, building survey and operating specification
Evidence date: 7 August 2026

Central conclusion: A large industrial unit can be converted into a safe, commercially viable padel venue, but the project should not be treated as a simple warehouse fit-out. The largest early risk is usually planning location, because indoor padel is Class E(d) leisure and therefore a main town-centre use. The largest opening risk is life safety during low-staff or unstaffed periods. The lease, design and construction programme must be conditional on both risks being resolved.

1. Recommended approval strategy

The project should use a gated acquisition and delivery structure. Do not sign an unconditional long lease, order courts or begin irreversible fit-out merely because a unit has the right height. Secure exclusivity and heads of terms first, then make the agreement for lease conditional on satisfactory planning, landlord consent, surveys, utilities and building-control feasibility.

2. Land use and planning route

2.1 Correct use class

A commercial indoor padel venue in England falls within Use Class E(d): indoor sport, recreation or fitness principally provided to visiting members of the public.[^1] F2(d) does not cover padel; it is reserved for indoor or outdoor swimming pools and skating rinks. Outdoor padel is normally F2(c).

This distinction matters when screening properties:

The café/restaurant element is Class E(b), while ordinary retail is E(a). These activities can coexist within broad Class E and can also be ancillary to the sport use. A bar principally used for drinking is sui generis. The safest concept is therefore a visibly sport-led venue with a modest café/bar whose floor area, hours and sales controls prevent it becoming an independent drinking establishment.

2.2 The out-of-centre planning risk

Indoor leisure is a main town-centre use. National policy requires a sequential test for a proposal outside an existing centre when it is not allocated in an up-to-date plan. Town-centre sites are tested first, followed by edge-of-centre and only then out-of-centre locations.[^2]

For out-of-centre retail and leisure proposals, an impact assessment is required when the proposal exceeds the locally set threshold, or 2,500 sq m gross where no different threshold applies.[^2] A 35,000–45,000 sq ft venue is approximately 3,252–4,181 sq m. It therefore exceeds the national default threshold. Stoke’s July 2025 Retail and Leisure Study expressly confirms the sequential and impact-test framework.[^3]

This does not mean an industrial-estate venue cannot be approved. It means the submission must demonstrate why a more central building cannot reasonably accommodate the operation. The strongest evidence will be technical and operational rather than merely commercial:

Land ownership, a lower rent or a preference for one particular building is not sufficient justification on its own. The project should demonstrate flexibility by testing whether a smaller or differently configured central option could make a meaningful contribution. The planning consultant should agree the search area, assessment period and rejection criteria with the council at pre-application stage.

2.3 Stoke pre-application and statutory fees

Stoke-on-Trent’s published pre-application charges are £2,000 inclusive of VAT for major development, £1,000 for minor development and £3,000 for a development-team service.[^4] A large change of use above 1,000 sq m is ordinarily major development. Buy the major-development service before exchange or an unconditional lease commitment.

The national planning fee from 1 April 2026 for an ‘other material change of use’ is £610.[^5] The low statutory fee should not be confused with the real cost of securing consent: the sequential case, impact analysis, transport, acoustics, drawings, surveys and consultant coordination are the material costs.

The professional allowance is a feasibility estimate, not a statutory tariff. A contested application, committee hearing, appeal, complex transport case or extensive sequential search can increase it materially.

2.4 Application package

The validation list must be agreed with the assigned officer. A robust six-court application should be budgeted on the basis that it may need:

The planning description should cover the whole intended use at opening, including ancillary café/bar, retail, equipment vending, changing, events and hours. Under-describing the proposal merely defers risk to enforcement, licensing or a later variation.

2.5 Planning conditions to control before signing the build contract

The decision must be checked against the business model. Particular attention is required where conditions restrict:

• opening, delivery or bar hours;
• the number of courts, customer capacity or events;
• music, doors/windows or external areas;
• plant noise and operating times;
• parking numbers, travel plan or cycle facilities;
• café/bar use to an ancillary status;
• external lighting and signage;
• waste storage and collections;
• implementation of an operations management plan; and
• personal-user or temporary permission.

The lease’s permitted-use clause must be at least as wide as the planning permission and premises licence. A mismatch can make an authorised activity a lease breach.

3. Property, lease and landlord workstream

3.1 Conditions precedent

The preferred structure is an agreement for lease conditional on planning and landlord-approved works, with access for surveys and a long-stop date. Heads of terms should provide:

3.2 Surveys before commitment

The minimum pre-lease suite is:

1. measured and topographical survey;
2. building survey including roof, envelope, damp and life expectancy;
3. structural inspection and slab investigation for court anchoring;
4. drainage CCTV and capacity review where showers/kitchen demand changes;
5. electrical capacity and power-quality survey;
6. water pressure/flow and incoming service confirmation;
7. heating, ventilation and heat-gain feasibility;
8. fire-compartment and fire-door survey;
9. asbestos management information and a refurbishment/demolition survey for intrusive areas;
10. rights, easements, title restrictions, service-charge and estate-regulation review; and
11. measured parking/servicing and safe pedestrian route audit.

HSE distinguishes a management asbestos survey for ordinary occupation from a destructive refurbishment/demolition survey needed before structural work.[^6] Use a UKAS-accredited survey organisation and define every intrusive work zone.

4. Building Regulations, design and construction governance

4.1 Approval route

Planning permission and Building Regulations approval are separate. The fit-out is likely to involve structural foundations or ring beams, controlled electrical and plumbing work, sanitary accommodation, drainage, ventilation, energy performance, glazing safety, fire precautions and accessible routes. A complex public sports conversion should use a Full Plans/building-control approval route, not rely on an informal or retrospective approach.

The proposed single-storey leisure warehouse is not a higher-risk building solely because its roof is high. The Building Safety Regulator’s higher-risk route principally concerns buildings at least seven storeys or 18 metres that contain residential units, a hospital or a care home.[^7] The project can normally appoint the local authority building-control service or a registered building control approver.

Stoke’s live page states that large commercial-project charges are individually determined; the linked 2015–16 schedule is not a current quotation.[^8] Obtain a written quote after concept design and hold a £3,000–£12,000 planning allowance until scope is fixed.

4.2 Design duties and evidence

The remaining disciplines complete the pre-construction evidence set:

4.3 CDM 2015 and construction governance

Under CDM 2015 the venue company is a commercial client with non-delegable duties: make suitable management arrangements, appoint competent designers and contractors, allow sufficient time and resources, provide pre-construction information, ensure a construction phase plan and adequate welfare, and obtain the health and safety file at completion.[^9] Where more than one contractor will be involved—which is certain for this fit-out—a Principal Designer and Principal Contractor must be appointed in writing. Notify HSE by F10 when the planned work exceeds 30 working days with more than 20 workers on site simultaneously, or exceeds 500 person-days.

Before any intrusive work, obtain the building's asbestos information. A management survey supports ordinary occupation only; a destructive refurbishment/demolition survey by a competent—preferably UKAS-accredited—organisation must identify hidden asbestos-containing materials in every zone of structural work, and those areas must be vacated during the survey.[^6]

Construction should proceed under formal consultant appointments and a suitable JCT contract with professional indemnity insurance, defined design responsibility, collateral warranties, programme, testing, defects and liquidated-damages provisions. No work starts before the landlord's Licence to Alter, the reinstatement/dilapidations position, rights for external plant, signage and services, structural loading information and any Party Wall review are in place. The tenant should expect to pay the landlord's reasonable legal and surveyor costs and should cap them in heads of terms.

5. Fire safety in a low-staff venue

The employer, owner, occupier and anyone with control of the premises can each be a Responsible Person under the Fire Safety Order, and multiple Responsible Persons must cooperate—directly relevant where a landlord retains the envelope and common services.[^10] The Responsible Person must maintain a written, suitable and sufficient fire-risk assessment, preventive and protective measures, an emergency plan, and information, instruction and training.

For this venue the fire-risk assessment must expressly address the operating model, not just the building:

• unstaffed and low-staff periods, and who takes charge of an evacuation;
• customers unfamiliar with the premises, children and junior sessions;
• disabled evacuation and Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans;
• lone workers (cleaning, maintenance, bar close);
• café/bar and any kitchen equipment;
• battery charging, plant rooms and storage;
• the electronic access system's behaviour on alarm, mains failure and controller failure—escape must never depend on cloud services, remote staff or a customer's phone.

Use the Home Office small/medium places-of-assembly guide where maximum occupancy is 300 or fewer and the large-places guide above that; the fire strategy must set a defensible maximum occupancy and the operating systems must be able to demonstrate compliance with it.[^10]

Fire-system capital cost is site-specific. Hold the life-safety capital envelope of £34,000–£237,000 (base £79,000) — addressable alarm, emergency lighting, compartmentation/fire doors/evacuation aids, and extinguishers/commissioning — until the fire strategy and survey define the scope; this is the master cost model's four-line schedule (master_cost_validated_findings.md) and supersedes the earlier £25,000–£72,000 provisional allowance carried elsewhere in this pack's drafting history — do not add both. A web-quoted fire-risk assessment of a few hundred pounds is an assessment fee only—it is not a credible allowance for design and remedial works in a large conversion.

6. Accessibility and inclusive design

Building Regulations Part M is a minimum, not a complete defence to the Equality Act's service-provider duties. The design should apply Sport England's 2024 Accessible and Inclusive Sports Facilities guidance across external areas, internal circulation, changing and toilets, wayfinding, emergency evacuation and day-to-day operations.[^11]

Appoint a competent access consultant during concept design—not as a completion-stage audit—and hold £1,500–£4,000 for the access review and statement, with physical fit-out costs carried separately in the construction budget.

7. Court construction standards

The SAPCA/LTA 2025 code of practice is not legislation, but it should be written into the court-supply contract as the minimum specification and commissioning standard.[^12]

LTA venue registration and safeguarding standards sit alongside the statutory approvals: if registration or recognition is sought, the venue needs safeguarding governance including a named Welfare Officer and adopted policies. They are commercially and operationally important but are not a substitute for planning, Building Regulations or licensing consent.

8. Premises licensing and alcohol

A premises licence is required for retail alcohol sales, late-night refreshment (hot food or drink supplied between 23:00 and 05:00) and regulated entertainment outside the applicable exemptions. Alcohol sales additionally require a Designated Premises Supervisor who holds a personal licence.[^13]

Stoke-on-Trent's published fees from 1 April 2026 are banded by rateable value:[^14]

Alcohol-led premises in Bands D and E can attract statutory multipliers; a padel venue should be structured and evidenced as demonstrably sport-led so the multiplier question never arises. Supporting fees include a personal licence at £37, DPS variation £23, minor variation £89, transfer £23 and a Temporary Event Notice at £21. A new application carries a 28-day consultation and proceeds to a hearing if relevant representations remain, so apply at least 8–12 weeks before planned first service and align licensed hours with the planning permission and noise evidence.

Operating rules that must be fixed before the licence application is drafted:

• no alcohol through vending machines or any unstaffed self-service route—the bar operates only during staffed, licensed periods;
• Challenge 25, refusal and incident logs, and a named authoriser for every alcohol sale;
• Stoke's 2025–2030 licensing policy weighs the four licensing objectives equally and considers neighbourhood population, crime, noise complaints, policing, residents and businesses—the operations management plan submitted for planning should be reused as licensing evidence.[^13]

9. Music, television and events

Three further permissions sit outside the Licensing Act application but must be budgeted and diarised:

10. Programme and consolidated allowances

The statutory determination target for major development is 13 weeks, but the realistic assumption is 20–32 weeks from first consultant instruction to a usable consent, covering pre-application, surveys, validation, consultation and any planning performance agreement or extension. Add time for discharging conditions and for committee or judicial-review risk before committing irreversible fit-out spend. The building-control completion certificate must be in hand before opening, with every commissioning certificate retained in the health and safety file.

These are approvals-side allowances only; construction, court supply, MEP and hospitality fit-out are costed in the capital plan, and music/TV licences are quoted once the operating profile is fixed.

11. Decision summary

Worked through the gates in section 1, none of these approvals is exotic; the blueprint fails only when steps are taken out of order—signing the lease before planning, ordering courts before the survey, or opening the bar before the licence.

References

[^1]: Planning Portal, use classes: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/change-of-use/use-classes/ and the Use Classes Order: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/764/schedule/2 [^2]: NPPF, ensuring the vitality of town centres: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-planning-policy-framework/7-ensuring-the-vitality-of-town-centres [^3]: Stoke-on-Trent Retail and Leisure Study, July 2025: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/2794/volume_1_retail_and_leisure_study.pdf [^4]: Stoke-on-Trent pre-application charges: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/info/20005/planning_and_building/292/i_need_planning_advice/2 [^5]: Statutory planning fees from 1 April 2026: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69a073bb07d7bff3604d6df6/Planning_fees_-annual_indexation_from_1_April_2026.pdf [^6]: HSE, arranging an asbestos survey: https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/duty/arrange-asbestos-survey.htm [^7]: Building Regulations approval and the higher-risk regime: https://www.gov.uk/building-regulations-approval [^8]: Stoke-on-Trent building-regulations charges: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/info/20062/building_regulations/217/building_regulations_charges [^9]: HSE, CDM 2015 commercial clients: https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/2015/commercial-clients.htm [^10]: Workplace fire safety responsibilities and fire-risk assessments: https://www.gov.uk/workplace-fire-safety-your-responsibilities [^11]: Sport England, Accessible and Inclusive Sports Facilities (2024): https://www.sportengland.org/guidance-and-support/facilities-and-planning/design-and-cost-guidance/accessible-inclusive [^12]: SAPCA/LTA Code of Practice for Padel Courts (September 2025): https://www.ltapadel.org.uk/globalassets/padel-venues/cop-for-padel-courts-sept-25.pdf [^13]: Stoke-on-Trent Statement of Licensing Policy 2025–2030: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/2667/draft_statement_of_licensing_policy_2025-_2030.pdf [^14]: Stoke-on-Trent licensing fees and charges from 1 April 2026: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/914/licensing_fees_and_charges.pdf