Updated 10.15am

A football club in Luqa has applied to convert part of a garden into a padel court.

The small garden on the corner of Triq Xmun Azzopardi and Triq San Tumas is located next to a five-a-side pitch and an existing padel court.

According to PA/00768/25, the application to construct the court was filed by Evan Camilleri on behalf of Saint Andrews Football Club.

It will take up an area that is currently a small garden with benches, walkways and shrubs.  But it has already raised a number of objectors from the local community.

Luqa mayor John Schembri said the council was concerned that the proposed padel court would generate more traffic in an area where parking was already an issue.

“I have a lot of respect for the club because they do a lot for the town’s children but they didn’t consult us about this,” Schembri said. “We need to balance the needs of the community and the club.”

We need to balance the needs of the community and the club- Luqa mayor John Schembri

Several people who lodged objections to the plans with the Planning Authority echoed the mayor’s concerns about parking.

“The existing infrastructure cannot support further development without worsening the already critical parking situation,” wrote one.

The mayor also expressed concern about the future of the garden’s trees.

However, the project’s architect, Julian Borg, stressed that only part of the garden would be converted into a padel court and that the mature trees lining the perimeter of the garden would not be touched.

“There are some small palm trees, hedges and bushes that would be removed but we’re not chopping down everything,” said Borg, who is also the mayor of Siġġiewi.

Asked about the issue of parking, Borg said that a game of padel was only played by two or four people, mainly in the evening, and that this would not represent a significant increase in traffic.

The club’s president, Evan Camilleri, meanwhile said the project had been given the green light by Sport Malta.

“The land in question has been designated for sports and that’s what we want to use it for.

"Either we believe in sports or we don’t,” Camilleri told Times of Malta, adding that the club regularly rented out its football and padel facilities to voluntary organisations for free.

The proposed padel court.

One of Malta's fastest-growing sports

Padel is one of Malta’s fastest-growing sports. Since the first courts opened in Pembroke around four years ago, 25 others have sprung up around the country, with hundreds of people taking up the sport.

But the mushrooming padel courts across the country has led to some community clashes.

Earlier this month, a group of parents in Pembroke protested Pembroke Athleta FC’s unanimous decision to turn part of the club’s five-a-side pitches into padel courts. But the club said the income from the space could help maintain the club’s other facilities.