Trampoline parks and indoor leisure capacity
Indoor trampoline parks usually sit in Class E(d), so the planning risk moves to restrictive conditions, structure-borne impact noise and the occupancy figure the fire strategy allows.
An indoor trampoline park is almost always a Class E(d) use, which means that in a building already in Class E you may not need planning permission for the change of use at all. Trampoline park planning permission usually turns instead on three other things: whether an old condition on the unit still restricts its use, whether the physical works need consent, and whether the impact noise can be isolated from whatever sits next door or overhead.
That last point is what separates a trampoline park from a gym or a soft play centre. A person landing on a trampoline bed transmits a short, high-energy impulse into the frame, the frame into the slab, and the slab into the structural frame of the building. Airborne mitigation does nothing about it. If there are flats above or a quiet occupier on the other side of a party wall, the acoustic design has to break the structural path, and that is a construction decision taken before the lease is signed.
Which use class applies
Class E(d) of the Use Classes Order 1987, as amended in 2020, covers indoor sport, recreation or fitness not involving motorised vehicles or firearms, principally to visiting members of the public. A trampoline park sits squarely within it, Indoor climbing walls and most trampoline-and-obstacle-course hybrids sit there too, while indoor karting is excluded because it involves motorised vehicles.
Because movement within a single use class is not development, a unit lawfully in Class E for any other purpose, a former shop, a bank, a nursery or an office, can become a trampoline park without a planning application. That is the useful part of the 2020 reclassification for leisure operators.
Two things break it. First, a unit outside Class E, most often storage or distribution in Class B8 or general industrial in Class B2, is a different class and the change is development requiring permission. The permitted development rights in Schedule 2 Part 3 of the GPDO are narrow and have been amended repeatedly, so check the current text for the specific pair of uses rather than relying on what was true a few years ago.
Second, and more commonly missed, a condition on the existing permission that restricts the unit to a named use still bites. A retail park unit permitted subject to a condition limiting occupation to Class A1 retail is still limited, even though Class A1 no longer exists, because the condition is read by reference to the classes in force when it was imposed. Removing it needs a section 73 application, and the council will treat that as the planning decision on the leisure use.
Impact noise through the building frame
Vertical structure-borne transmission is the risk that closes schemes down after they open. BS 4142:2014+A1:2019 is the usual reference for commercial sound affecting residential receptors, and it will be the framework for plant noise from your air handling units. For the trampoline impacts themselves it is a poor fit, because it assesses sound outside a dwelling rather than energy arriving through a column.
A competent acoustician will therefore do three separate assessments: plant noise to BS 4142 with a character correction for the tonal or impulsive content, internal noise levels in neighbouring premises against BS 8233:2014 criteria, and vibration against BS 6472-1 using vibration dose values. A Noise Impact Assessment that only does the first will not answer the environmental health officer's question. Councils expect a suitably qualified author for this work, and professional review of any draft is strongly advised.
The honest difficulty is that there is no reliable way to predict structure-borne levels in an existing building from first principles. The sensible route is a baseline measurement in the receiving premises, a trial installation or a documented reference installation of the same frame and isolation system, and a condition requiring post-installation verification.
Isolating the floor
Isolation is achieved by sitting the trampoline structure on a resilient layer so that the frame never touches the building structure directly. In practice that means a floating platform on bearings, with the frame fixed to the platform and a gap maintained at every edge, service penetration and handrail.
The failures are predictable. A single rigid bridge, one bolt through the floating deck into the slab, one skirting fixed to both the platform and the wall, short-circuits the whole system. Height is the other constraint, because a floating deck plus a trampoline pit depth eats clear ceiling height that a warehouse unit may not have to spare once the equipment manufacturer's minimum head height is applied.
Where a mezzanine is added to gain floor area, the mezzanine is building work and may require planning permission in its own right if it materially increases floorspace. It also changes the occupant capacity calculation and the escape strategy.
Capacity, escape and the planning consequence
Occupant capacity is a Building Regulations and fire safety question, set through Approved Document B and the fire risk assessment required under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Exit widths, travel distances and the number of final exits determine the maximum number of people who may be in the building at once.
That number then drives the planning case. Parking demand, highway capacity, queueing on the forecourt and noise from people arriving and leaving all scale with it, so a transport and noise case built on an optimistic occupancy figure collapses as soon as the fire strategy caps it lower. Agree the capacity figure once and use the same number in every document.
Weekend peaks, parking and drop-off
Trampoline parks are busiest when offices are empty. Saturday and Sunday late morning to late afternoon, school holidays, and the hour either side of each hourly session change are the peaks, and the arrival pattern is dominated by cars dropping off groups of children rather than by staff commuting.
A Transport Statement for this use should therefore assess Saturday and school-holiday peaks rather than the weekday morning and evening peaks a TRICS extract defaults to, and it should look specifically at the sessional surge when one group leaves as the next arrives. Where the unit shares a retail park car park, the relevant question is whether the leisure peak coincides with or complements the retail peak.
Dedicated drop-off space, a marshalled queue area and a waiting area inside the unit for parents are all things an officer will look for. Without them the complaint that follows is about engines idling and car doors at 6pm.
Hours, party sessions and the conditions to expect
Opening hours are where residential neighbours and operators meet. Expect a condition fixing opening and closing times, and expect the council to pay attention to the last session rather than the first, because departure noise at 9pm is more intrusive than arrival noise at 10am. If an existing hours condition needs changing, the route is the same as for any other use, and our note on changing the hours a use operates sets out the mechanics.
The conditions commonly attached to a permission of this kind are worth anticipating in the application rather than negotiating afterwards:
- Implementation of the acoustic mitigation exactly as specified in the submitted report, with no amendment without written agreement.
- Post-installation verification testing in the nearest noise-sensitive premises, with results submitted and any further mitigation carried out before the use begins.
- A plant noise limit expressed as a rating level relative to measured background sound at a defined assessment position.
- A cap on the number of users present at any one time, tied to the fire strategy figure.
- Restrictions on the use of amplified music and on externally audible public address systems.
- Approved hours of opening, sometimes with a shorter Sunday.
Where a larger unit is being subdivided to create the leisure space, the sequencing in our note on splitting one unit into two commercial premises applies to the acoustic separation as much as to the planning application.
Set out the use class position, the condition history of the unit, the acoustic strategy and the capacity figure in a single Planning Statement and the determination becomes much more straightforward. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need planning permission to open a trampoline park in a former shop?
Often not for the change of use itself, because a shop and an indoor recreation use both sit in Class E and movement within a class is not development. Permission is still needed for external plant, signage or a mezzanine that materially increases floorspace, and any condition restricting the unit to a named use must be dealt with first.
Which use class is a trampoline park?
Class E(d) of the Use Classes Order 1987 as amended in 2020, covering indoor sport, recreation or fitness provided principally to visiting members of the public and not involving motorised vehicles or firearms. Indoor climbing and most trampoline and obstacle course hybrids fall in the same sub-class, so moving between them is not development.
Why does an old Class A1 condition still matter after the 2020 changes?
A condition restricting occupation to a named use class is read by reference to the classes in force when it was imposed, so a Class A1 retail condition keeps its original effect even though that class was revoked. Removing or varying it requires a section 73 application, and the council treats that application as the decision on the leisure use.
Is BS 4142 the right standard for trampoline noise?
Only for part of it. BS 4142:2014+A1:2019 assesses commercial sound affecting residential receptors and suits plant noise from air handling units. Trampoline impacts travel through the structure, so internal levels in neighbouring premises are assessed against BS 8233:2014 and vibration against BS 6472-1 using vibration dose values.
What capacity figure should the transport and noise case use?
The occupant capacity set by the fire strategy under Approved Document B and the fire risk assessment. Use that single number consistently in the transport statement, the noise assessment and the planning statement. A case built on a higher assumed occupancy falls apart once the fire strategy caps the figure lower, and officers do check for consistency.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.