PROPOSALS for new indoor padel courts at Athelstaneford Mains Farm have received backing from community, farming, sporting, rural, and business organisations ahead of their consideration by East Lothian Council’s local review body this week.
The organisations have written collectively to East Lothian councillors urging them to approve the plans. These organisations include NFU Scotland, Tennis Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates, Scottish Agritourism, RSABI (founded as the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution) and the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs, alongside local businesses and neighbouring landowners.
The proposals, being progressed by East Lothian farming family WM Logan, would deliver two indoor padel courts and a multi-use fitness area alongside the existing farm steading.
A planning application was refused by East Lothian Council officers in May 2026 under delegated powers and has now been appealed to the council’s local review body.
The organisations behind the letter believe the proposal represents ‘exactly the kind of responsible rural diversification and positive community investment that East Lothian should encourage’. If approved, the plans would create a new year-round sporting facility in East Lothian, where there is currently no padel provision, providing greater opportunities for physical activity, social connection and mental wellbeing for people of different ages and abilities.
The development would take up 0.9 hectares of an 800-hectare farming operation, representing approximately 0.11% of the agricultural land, with the overwhelming majority remaining in agricultural production.
The proposals are also said to have also generated significant public support.
The supporting organisations say the application also raises a wider issue about farms and other rural businesses’ ability to diversify to remain sustainable.
Their joint letter states:
“If we want rural communities to thrive and people to have access to services and recreation closer to home, we must allow appropriate rural businesses to adapt and diversify. This proposal does that while retaining the overwhelming majority of the land in agricultural production and placing the new building alongside the existing farm steading.
“Access to recreational opportunities is especially important in rural areas. Developments such as this encourage regular activity and social connection and can meaningfully improve quality of life, supporting physical fitness and mental wellbeing for the farming community and the wider local population over the long term.
“In our view, refusing this application would mean losing a significant opportunity to support rural enterprise, healthier communities and local investment for very limited impact.”
A spokesperson for Athelstaneford Mains Farm commented, “We greatly welcome the support we have received from organisations and businesses across farming, rural enterprise, sport, tourism and the local community. This is a modest proposal that would deliver East Lothian’s first padel facility while allowing a family farming business to diversify responsibly and sustainably.”
