Plans for four padel courts at a Stoke-on-Trent leisure centre have been approved.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has secured planning permission for the two covered and two open air courts outside Fenton Manor Sports Centre.

Padel, which is similar to tennis, is one of the fastest growing sports in the country, with hundreds of courts being opened nationwide.

The courts at Fenton Manor will be built on land previously occupied by the centre's crazy golf course and a patio area.

According to the planning application, the crazy golf course has been out of use for 10 years and the council has been looking for an external operator to open a new facility on the site.

The padel courts at Fenton Manor will be run by Ace Padel, which already operates sites in Cobridge and Milton.

The application states: "The proposed use will be a modest expansion of the existing sporting club facility within an existing enclosed space and offers for people to engage in new form of physical activity, in sport and in social interaction whilst not impacting on any of the existing sporting facilities."

Along with the enclosed padel courts, the Fenton Manor facility will also include a clubhouse within a metal shipping container.

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The Lawn Tennis Association is aiming to increase the number of padel players in the country to 400,000 this year, and increase the number of padel courts to 1,000.

According to the application, padel is more accessible to people who may be put off playing conventional tennis, and therefore offers 'significant health and well-being benefits by attracting people who might not otherwise participate in a sport'.