Guildford Lido Padel Courts Plan: Decision Now Overdue

Two covered padel courts could be built at Guildford Lido, on the site of the vacant cafe building last occupied by Burrito Loco. The planning application, 26/P/00893, was submitted on 1 July and its target decision date of 8 September has now passed with no decision published.

The application was made on behalf of Freedom Leisure, the operator that runs the Lido and Guildford Spectrum for the borough council. Padel featured in the investment programme Freedom Leisure announced when Guildford Borough Council re-awarded it a ten year management contract, with an option for five more. That programme also promised the return of winter swimming at the Lido and a poolside wood-fired sauna.

What the plans show

The planning and design statement on the council’s planning register sets out the scheme in detail. It includes:

• two covered doubles courts, east of the main pool complex, on the general footprint of the former cafe
• one building, 25 metres by 25 metres, with a curved roof rising to 8.54 metres at its highest
• courts enclosed in perspex, lit by eight lights on 6 metre columns beneath an opaque canopy roof
• part-side walls that are perforated rather than solid
• demolition of the vacant cafe building, with the redundant mini golf area immediately behind it

Players would come in through the main Lido entrance and use the Lido’s existing changing rooms and refreshments. There is a second, step-free route in from the eastern end of the Lido car park. No new car park is proposed. The application says overflow parking is available at the Spectrum, about ten minutes’ walk away, and its transport statement puts the theoretical maximum at sixteen person movements in any hourly booking period.

The proposed playing hours would sit inside the Lido’s wider operation:

• Summer (1 April to 30 September): 6.30am to 8.30pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm at weekends
• Winter (1 October to 31 March): 6.30am to 7pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm at weekends

The statement calls padel one of the fastest growing participation sports, and says the covered design means the courts can be used in all weathers, operating alongside the seasonal open-air pool.

Trees, bats and light

Four trees would be removed: two rated category B and two category C. One of them is a lime taken out because it sits too close to the existing structure. The application proposes protection for the trees that stay, including a no-dig base within part of the root protection area of a retained oak.

The old cafe was assessed as having moderate potential for roosting bats, but a survey recorded no bats emerging from the building. Four bat species were recorded using the area around it to get about. The lighting assessment says the design produces negligible light spill beyond the courts themselves, with the lights mounted under the canopy.

Where the application stands

The council’s register records the application as received on 1 July 2026 and validated on 14 July. A site notice went up on 12 August and all consultation periods closed on 2 September. Two public comments were lodged: one objection and one in support.

The internal target date for a decision was 8 September. That has passed, and the register still showed no decision when we checked on 16 September. The register lists the expected decision level as delegated, which means a planning officer would decide it rather than the Planning Committee. From 31 October almost all applications of this size will be decided that way under the Government’s national scheme of delegation.

The cafe site has been through change before. The register’s history for the plot includes permission granted in November 2003 for a new cafeteria to replace one damaged by fire.

What it means for you

• The comment window has closed, so the application is now waiting on a decision by officers. You can track it, and read every document, on the planning register under reference 26/P/00893.
• If it is approved, the Lido gains a bookable, all-weather sport alongside the pool, sharing the same entrance, changing rooms and car park.
• The former Burrito Loco cafe building would go. Court users would rely on the Lido’s own refreshment facilities instead.
• For what else there is to do at the Lido and around the town while the plans are decided, see things to do in Guildford.