A TENNIS club in Wilmslow has planning permission to install floodlights on its courts — five years after it first applied to do so.

Pownall Park Lawn Tennis Club, on Carwood Road, first applied to install the floodlights in 2016, with Cheshire East Council’s northern planning committee approving the move.

However, a variety of issues meant that the work never started within the three-year time limit placed on the permission — but a new application has been successful.

In its 2020 application, the club writes: “Unfortunately, due to the activities and timescales associated with obtaining the necessary funding for the development, pre-commencement conditions… were not discharged and the development was not implemented.

“As such, in accordance with the wording of Condition 1, the planning permission expires April 21, 2019.

“The purpose of this new application, therefore, is to re-apply for planning permission. The development now proposed is almost identical to that which was approved [previously], with one small change being the use of Phillips LED luminaires, as opposed to the approved metal halide luminaires.

“The LED lamps being proposed are more sustainable and energy efficient, and as demonstrated by the new lighting assessment, better protect the amenity of neighbouring residents than the approved metal halides.”

An officer’s report into the bid says two letters of objection were received from nearby residents ‘on the basis of flow of traffic on the unadopted road’.

However, the council concluded that previous application’s approval at committee and the compliance with ‘with local and national planning policy’ was strong enough to justify approval.