Losing a popular indoor athletics track in a Nottingham council leisure centre shake-up would be “devastating”, petitioners say.
Nottingham City Council is planning to make changes to how it operates its six leisure centres, including the Harvey Hadden Sports Village, and the Clifton, Djanogly, Ken Martin, Southglade and Victoria facilities.
However, planned changes at Harvey Hadden under the new operating model – including a gym expansion and the repurposing of an indoor athletics track into two new padel courts – have proven contentious.
A petition has been set up calling on the council to retain the indoor athletics track, and it has been signed by more than 1,000 people.
The track is used for training in sprinting, hurdles, long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault and throws, and has a deep history in the area with the Notts Athletics Club.
The petition, set up by Sophie Byrne, says: “We, the undersigned athletes, coaches and parents associated with Notts Athletics Club, strongly oppose Nottingham City Council’s proposal to repurpose the indoor athletics track at Harvey Hadden Sports Village into two padel courts.
“The indoor track is a vital facility for athletes of all ages and disciplines in Nottinghamshire. It serves as a year-round, weather-proof training venue for hundreds of athletes in various events.
“During the winter months, this facility becomes essential for maintaining training continuity, safety and performance standards. Without access to an indoor track, our athletes will be left with nowhere suitable to train, particularly during adverse weather conditions.
“This decision would have devastating consequences.”
Proposed changes were discussed at a council People, Communities and Environment Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday (5 November).
Cllr David Mellen (Lab), a member of the committee, said: “I know in my ward there is a new padel court just on Daleside Road. I know around Notts County Football Ground there are some padel courts there, and they are filled to the brim with people booking them.
“I am concerned that the indoor athletics facility is being suggested as being replaced. If you were suggesting building two padel courts taking a bit of the car park, or some of the space in the area, then that is fine. It is good to jump on the bandwagon of new sports and get people active.
“But the history of Notts Athletics Club in particular is significant, and frankly if we are going to see people in our news headlines, it won’t be a medal for padel, it will be a medal for athletics achievements.
“I would hate it if we had a talented young person in Nottingham, and because they could only train in the summer as there would be no indoor facility, we didn’t maximise that potential.”
Council officers said the main objective of the shake-up is to reduce the amount of money it subsidises the authority’s leisure service with.
The service is currently in-house, but a consultancy firm hired to look at how best the council could run its leisure and sports service suggested the best model would be an enhanced in-house model.
Under this model, the council would have to invest £1.256 million into the service, including new drowning detection systems at three centres, the repurposing of the indoor track at Harvey Hadden into two padel courts, a gym extension, catering upgrades, energy efficiency measures, as well as new party and events equipment and next-generation wellbeing facilities.
Council documents indicate that the initial investment could result in annual savings of around £782,000, with additional income generated from the expanded facilities and revised pricing, as well as savings achieved through improved energy efficiency.
Responding to the concerns, Colin Wilderspin, Strategic Director of Communities, said: “One of the things we will consider is the indoor athletics track and other things. For us to improve or increase our commercial viability, there are some facilities that sit within our leisure centres that we will probably need to look at.
“No decisions have been made and, obviously, as we go forward, there will be engagement with the relevant organisations, users and stakeholders.”
According to LTA Padel, the National Governing Body for the sport, it is one of the fastest-growing sports in Britain.
New figures released this year by the LTA show that at the end of 2024, just over 400,000 adults and juniors in Great Britain played padel at least once in the preceding 12 months – up from 15,000 in 2019, 89,000 in 2021 and 129,000 at the end of 2023.
Similarly, Sport England, which uses a different metric, recorded the number of adults who play twice monthly doubling from 23,000 in 2022 to 51,000 in 2023–24.
Mr Wilderspin added that the council must also “listen to the voices” asking for more padel facilities in the city.
City councillors are not expected to make any decisions on the new operating model until an Executive Board meeting on 18 November.
