Padel and pickleball noise complaints in France, Digi Mart USA News (Lavelanet, Ariège, France): On one side of the road are houses, and on the other are the courts of a tennis school in the Pays d’Olmes. On Saturday mornings, the sound of balls striking rackets carries between the two sides in Lavelanet, in the Ariège department of southern France.
The collective NAMP, which stands for “Nuisances & Atteintes, Maîtrise & Prévention,” specializes in padel, pickleball and similar sports. It is asking whether this noise could disturb nearby residents.
Citing Google Earth, the group said pickleball is played less than 50 meters from the closest residents, while American scientific studies set a safety distance of 150 meters, a figure also referenced by the French Tennis Federation (FFT) in its documents.
According to FFT documents, a detailed procedure applies, covering the distance between sports facilities and homes as well as the measures to be taken depending on the configuration. The FFT technical document states that the main noise source in pickleball is ball impact on the racket.
It describes this as a brief but high-intensity sound centered on the frequencies most perceptible to the human ear.
Sports Minister Marina Ferrari recently told the National Assembly that the activity must not produce an excessive sound emergence above 5 decibels during the day or 3 decibels at night in its environment.
At the Lavelanet courts, the pickleball area is the loudest part. A mother who had come to accompany her son said it “remains quite faint.” Around the courts, the area was calm.
The FFT notes that the quieter an area is, away from roads and human activity, the more sensitive the siting of courts becomes, and that an acoustic consultancy is needed to characterize the sound environment of a study zone.
A woman walking home along the road said that from where she lives, it is “not unbearable.” She added that she might find it bothersome on a Sunday at 8 a.m., but that on a Saturday at 10 a.m. it is not worth making a fuss about.
The club’s president, Mathilde Ménard, said no complaints had been received, adding that the federation is very attentive to these issues.
The FFT strongly encourages clubs to monitor their sound impact. For a club to receive federation funding, a strict protocol applies in clear cases of coexistence with neighbors.
According to an internal note, an acoustic study is mandatory if padel courts are located less than 150 meters from homes. In cases where study results are highly unfavorable, funding may be refused entirely.
In intermediate situations, compliance work may be required, such as building a noise barrier. Nothing of this kind has been required in Lavelanet, but the issue remains current nationally.
Deputy Véronique Ludmann (Horizons) told the National Assembly this summer that residents’ collectives and specialized associations estimate that 200 to 300 disputes are currently under way in France.
